Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) has obtained approval to resume production at two of its five factories at the Haifeng (海豐) compound in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County, which were ordered shut after June 1 safety inspections, a statement released by the Yunlin County Government said yesterday.
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 company was under orders that the county issued on May 27 to close the factories following fires on May 12 and May 18. Apart from the five Nan Ya factories, one plant run by affiliated Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) was also ordered to suspend operations because of the incidents.
“Nan Ya applied with the Yunlin County Government on June 17 and June 21 to resume operations at two EG plants of the Haifeng compound,” the Yunlin County Government said in the statement.
The county said it convened a 13-member special task force on Thursday last week to review Nan Ya’s applications.
After reviewing the additional documents provided by Nan Ya the next day, all 13 members decided on Monday that they found no objections to the company’s resumption plans, according to the statement.
The county also agreed the vinyl chloride monomer plant run by Formosa Plastics could begin a trial run. However, to gain a green light for full resumption of operations, the company has to provide an environmental protection monitoring report and other documents to clear up the county government’s concerns over the safety of the facilities.
Nan Ya is the world’s fourth-largest EG producer and Formosa Plastics is the nation’s largest maker of polyvinyl chloride. The two companies are the core members of the industrial conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團).
Nan Ya president Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) told the Central News Agency yesterday that the company would resume production at the two plants on Saturday and he expected the company’s EG output to return to normal levels by the end of the month.
The county’s special task force is slated to hold another meeting later this week to review resumption applications of Nan Ya’s other plants at the Haifeng compound.
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