Indonesia’s Mitsubishi to shut PTA unit for maintenance; shares sales to complete by month-end
Indonesian market participants said Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia has not offered PET bottle grade to the spot market for some time now, possibly due to weak margins.
According to market sources, Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia shut one of the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) lines at the Banten petrochemical complex on 21 February 2024 amid squeezed profit margins.
The 320,000 tons/year line is expected to remain offline until the market situation improves.
The producer owns another PTA line with similar capacity at the same location, which is operating at full tilt at the time of this report.
Indonesian market participants said Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia has not offered PET bottle grade to the spot market for some time now, possibly due to weak margins. Instead, the maker focuses primarily on PET film grade.
On 22 December 2023, Mitsubishi Chemical Group decided to sell 80% of Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia's ownership to PT Lintas Citra Pratama and the share transfer is scheduled to be completed by 28 March 2024. In an official statement, the company also added that the shares would be sold in stages and Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia would become a ‘wholly owned subsidiary of PT Lintas Citra Pratama in the future.