Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), yesterday reported that revenue last month rose 29.4 percent year-on-year to NT$19.16 billion (US$652 million) from NT$14.81 billion, the highest annual sales growth among the four major units of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), thanks to increasing sales volume.
PVC sales volume last month increased by 31,000 tonnes from a year earlier due to fewer working days in the same period last year, FPC chairman and president Jason Lin (林健男) told an earnings conference in Taipei yesterday.
The figure represented monthly growth of 7.2 percent from NT$17.87 billion a month earlier, supported by higher prices of ethylene and propylene, he told reporters.
Five factories will go through regular maintenance this quarter, which is forecast to lower the utilization rate to about 90 percent, compared with 92 percent last quarter, Lin told reporters.
However, global customer demand for plastics is expected to remain robust this year, as US President Donald Trump has announced a US$1.5 trillion investment to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, he added.
The three other main units of the group also posted annual revenue increases for last month.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) — Taiwan’s only listed oil refiner — posted revenue of NT$69.42 billion, a 14.6 percent increase from NT$60.55 billion a year earlier and 14.9 percent from NT$60.42 billion the previous month.
Formosa Petrochemical president Tsao Minh (曹明) said he expects oil prices to remain at about US$65 per barrel this year, higher than a previous forecast of US$60, considering OPEC’s ongoing plan to curtail oil production.
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the nation’s largest plastics maker, posted revenue of NT$29.16 billion for last month, representing a 21.5 percent increase from NT$24 billion a year earlier and 4 percent from NT$28.04 billion the previous month, boosted by increasing sales in its electric material segment.
Nan Ya Plastics plans to expand production capacity of copper foil this year to satisfy growing global demand for lithium-ion batteries, Nan Ya Plastics chairman Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) said, without elaborating.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維), which produces aromatics and styrenics, saw its sales grow 12.4 percent to NT$33.81 billion from NT$30.07 billion a year earlier.
The group last month saw its combined revenue rise 17.1 percent annually and 6.8 percent monthly to NT$151.55 billion.
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