Hyundai Chemical Co Ltd is preparing for a significant scheduled turnaround at its LDPE/EVA swing plant in Daesan, South Korea, with maintenance anticipated to begin on October 13, 2025, and extend through November 24, 2025, according to a source speaking on condition of anonymity. The facility, which has an annual production capacity of approximately 300,000 mt, routinely toggles between low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) production.
This maintenance window aligns with Hyundai’s broader strategy to ensure operational reliability in its polyethylene units. The Daesan site is part of a collaborative strategy involving HD Hyundai Chemical and potentially its sister company Lotte Chemical, which are also discussing integrating their cracking operations within the same complex to streamline capacity and improve efficiency. The coordinated planning suggests that the scheduled outage may offer an opportunity for shared logistics or resource alignment.
Downtime at the swing plant is likely to tighten regional LDPE and EVA availability in the fourth quarter, at least temporarily. While the full impact will depend on concurrent cracker operations and feedstock flows, the outage could provide short-term support to margins in polyethylene derivatives. Market participants should monitor the maintenance progress and related supply adjustments closely, especially as Asia and Europe track feedstock and polyethylene pricing for downstream effects.
In summary, the Daesan LDPE/EVA shutdown is a precautionary measure to maintain long-term asset health and reliability. However, coinciding with broader consolidation efforts in Daesan’s cracker network, the potential exists for concentrated impacts on regional supply dynamics and feedstock arbitrage flows.
