Hanwha TotalEnergies Petrochemical has successfully restarted its paraxylene (PX) unit at Daesan, South Korea, following a scheduled maintenance shutdown, according to industry sources. The facility, one of the key PX production units in the country, carries a capacity of 1.26 million metric tons per year and plays an important role in supplying both domestic and export markets across Asia.
A market participant familiar with the matter told that the unit resumed operations around September 30, 2025. “The company is heard to have resumed operations at the unit around September 30, 2025, following a planned turnaround. The unit had been shut down on August 9, 2025, for maintenance. An official statement from the concerned authority has not been released,” the source said, highlighting that confirmation from Hanwha TotalEnergies is still pending.
The Daesan restart comes at a time when Asian paraxylene markets have been balancing soft demand with supply-side adjustments. Extended maintenance outages across the region in recent months had lent some support to prices, and the re-entry of Hanwha’s production could shift trade dynamics in the weeks ahead. PX, a critical feedstock for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and subsequently polyester, holds a central role in the textile and packaging industries, making any production developments closely watched by downstream players.
Analysts suggest that the timely restart of the Daesan unit underscores the company’s commitment to ensuring reliability of supply, particularly as volatility in feedstock naphtha and shifting demand patterns in China continue to shape regional market sentiment. The resumption of operations is expected to gradually restore supply consistency, although its full impact on Asian PX pricing will depend on the pace of demand recovery in the polyester chain.
