The largest supplier of plastics in Taiwan, Formosa Plastics Group, will resume its large-scope investment in construction of manufacturing base of ethylene in Ningbo, eastern China following the decision of the Chinese government to ease restrictions on foreign investment in naphtha cracking in the mainland.
According to the company, the group will resume the investment project by spending USD5 billion to set up the petroleum complex encompassing an ethylene plant with annual output of 1.2 million tonnes and factories of plastics in Ningbo. Under the amended rules and regulations, the group wonпїЅt have to share the complex with any single Chinese enterprises as ordered in the past, but run it with the stock partly owned by Ningbo City Government.
Besides, the new regulations grant the group full ownership of ethylene derived from naphtha cracking in the complex, so the group will be able to secure ample supply of the material to produce PVC, ABS, PTA, PP, AE, etc. locally at its other factories in Ningbo, instead of relying on shipment from Taiwan.
Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company"s chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).