(guidechem) -- Taiwan's Loyal Group shut down its largest EPS plant in Jiangyin, China on Monday with the capacity of 450,000 tpa for two-three days due to the fast rising price of styrene monomer in the east of China. However, its other plants in China are running at full capacity. Loyal has a total production capacity of over 1.5 million mt/year of EPS in China. Loyal is not buying SM at the moment, but still has an inventory of EPS to sell, a source close to the company said.
Another large EPS producer, China's Xingda Group, lowered its overall operating rates from full to 70% last week, also due to the price increases in SM, a source close to the company said. The source added that some of its plants were shut down, but did not provide further details. Xingdas plants can make over 1.2 million mt/year of EPS.
Loyal Group - is the largest manufacturer of expanded polystyrene in Asia and one of the world leaders. The first plant was started in 1976 and today the group has 12 plants located in different regions of China, five of which produce polystyrene.
Xingda Group was established in January 1992 by a group of large private plastic chemical enterprises specializing in the production of expandable polystyrene (EPS). After 15 years of sustained development, the group has become a national high-tech enterprise.
MRC