The Yunlin County Government yesterday rejected applications by Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) to resume production at two factories in its compound in Haifeng, Mailiao Township (麥寮), although it gave the green light to restarting two other factories earlier in the week.
The Haifeng compound houses five Nan Ya factories that produce several key textile materials and petrochemical intermediaries, such as 1,4-butylene glycol (BG), ethylene glycol (EG) and bisphenol-A (BPA). The county government had ordered the five factories shut down on June 1 in the wake of fires on May 12 and May 18.
The county government convened a 13-member review committee to go over Nan Ya’s plans to restart operations at its BPA and BG factories.
“The committee today did not give approval for the two Nan Ya factories to resume operations. It will meet again after Nan Ya submits more documents for further review,” the county government said in a statement, without elaborating.
On Monday, the county approved Nan Ya’s applications to resume operations at two EG plants in the Haifeng compound. They are expected to resume production tomorrow.
Nan Ya is the world’s fourth-largest EG producer, accounting for 9 percent of global supply. The Haifeng plants boast annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of EG.
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