Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) is expected to bring its No. 2 butadiene (BD) unit in Mailiao, Taiwan, back online by September 2025, following a year-long maintenance shutdown.
According to a source, “The company plans to resume operations at the unit by September 2025. The unit was shut down for maintenance in August 2024. However, an authorized source could not be reached for confirmation.”
The Mailiao facility, with a production capacity of 162,000 metric tons per year, is one of Taiwan’s key butadiene production assets and plays a critical role in supplying feedstock to downstream synthetic rubber markets. The prolonged outage has reduced Taiwan’s presence in regional butadiene trade flows, particularly at a time when Asia has grappled with both oversupply and fluctuating demand from the tire and automotive industries.
Market participants noted that the planned restart could reintroduce significant volumes into the Asian market, potentially adding pressure to a sector already characterized by uneven fundamentals. While demand for synthetic rubber has shown modest improvement in some markets, particularly in India and Southeast Asia, oversupply remains a persistent theme, with new Chinese capacities weighing heavily on sentiment.
Traders added that the timing of FPCC’s restart will be closely watched, as it may coincide with ongoing cracker maintenance schedules in Northeast Asia. If other regional producers continue to limit operating rates, the Mailiao restart could serve to rebalance supply rather than flood the market. However, if capacity elsewhere returns simultaneously, downward pressure on butadiene prices is likely to intensify.
The re-entry of FPCC’s No. 2 unit after more than a year offline underscores the importance of Taiwan’s petrochemical sector in Asia’s butadiene supply chain. Whether the restart stabilizes regional balances or amplifies existing oversupply will depend largely on the pace of recovery in synthetic rubber demand and broader global economic conditions.
