Formosa Petrochemical : Taiwan's Formosa buys naphtha at lowest price since December

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp has finalised a naphtha purchase at discounts of $4 to $5 a tonne to its own price formula on a cost and freight (C&F) basis, the lowest price it has paid since December, industry sources said on Thursday.

Asia's top naphtha importer concluded the tender discussions to buy about 100,000 tonnes of open-specification naphtha for arrival in the first half of October at Mailiao, where it operates three naphtha crackers with total capacity of 2.93 million tonnes of ethylene per year.

Although naphtha demand was stronger this week, with several buyers emerging to buy October cargoes, overall demand was weak and supplies were abundant, the sources added.

Cracker maintenance in Taiwan and Indonesia, which started this month and is expected to last into September, have weighed on overall demand and spot prices, the sources said.[O/ACRACKER] [O/NASIANAP]

(Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by David Goodman)