China : Formosa Chemicals to set up $162mn PTA unit

Formosa Chemical & Fiber Corporation (FCFC) has decided to invest around NT $5.2 billion or US $162.5 million to set up a PTA production unit at Lungte in Ilan County.

This decision was taken after a formal discussion at a shareholders meet in Taipei that was held recently.

This unit is expected to have annual production capacity of 300,000 metric tons that can be converted to manufacture almost 150,000 metric tons of purified m-phthalic acid (PIA).

This facility is expected to be commissioned by late 2007.

It will be able to contribute NT$8.25 billion (US$257.81 million) to FCFC overall revenue per year.

Formosa is a leading manufacturer of petrochemical products including PTA, SM polymer, PS and Paraxylene (PX).