Taiwan's commodities companies brace for another super typhoon

Thye Ming Industrial

13/09/2016 08:44

By Florence Tan and Melanie Burton 
    SINGAPORE/MELBOURNE, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's 
commodities industry was preparing on Tuesday for heavy wind and 
flooding as Typhoon Meranti hurtled towards the south of the 
island, threatening to disrupt grain and oil shipments from its 
major port and a lead refinery. 
    As the storm strengthened in the Pacific, Taiwan's national 
weather forecasters predicted it would make landfall in the 
Hengchun Peninsula on Wednesday. 
    Preparing for their second super typhoon in as many months, 
state-owned Taiwanese oil refiner CPC Corp  CHIP.UL  and Formosa 
Petrochemical Corp  6505.TW  closed their ports in Kaohsiung in 
the south and Mailiao in the west as a precaution, officials at 
both companies said. 
    Their refineries on the island were operating as normal on 
Tuesday. Formosa has a 540,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery 
while CPC has an existing capacity to produce 500,000 bpd. CPC's 
220,000 bpd refinery closest to the storm's path in Kaohsiung 
was mothballed in November last year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1971A3 
    Kaohsiung at the southern tip of Taiwan is the island's 
second most populous city and home to its largest port and the 
world's 13th largest container terminal.  
    It handled 110 million tonnes of cargo last year, almost 
half of Taiwan's total, according to the port operator's annual 
report.  
    The island is a major importer of corn, wheat and soymeal 
for animal feed, as well as iron ore and crude oil. Rice and pig 
farming are among Taiwan's main agricultural sectors.     
    Metals industry players were not expecting major disruption, 
despite the port being a major storage site for metals in the 
region. LME warehouses there hold more than 42,000 tonnes of 
nickel, 25,000 tonnes of copper and 28,000 tonnes of aluminium. 
But a warehouser with operations there said he was not expecting 
any disruption to activities.   
    Thye Ming Industrial Co  9927.TW  was ready to adjust shifts 
at its lead refinery in Kaohsiung if the typhoon hit, said a 
source familiar with the matter. It sells some 120,000 tonnes of 
lead and lead products per year. 
    Heavy rainfall is more devastating for crops and industrial 
plants than strong winds, the source said.     
    Typhoon Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly 
typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced 
thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N19U1N9 
    In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swathe of destruction through 
southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $3 
billion of damage.  
    Meranti is forecast to hit China's east coast later on 
Wednesday.    
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Map of forecasted Typhoon track and Taiwan commodites assets:    
http://tmsnrt.rs/2cnd3rF 
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 (Writing by Josephine Mason; Additional reporting by Dominique 
Patton and Josephine Mason; Editing by Ed Davies) 
 ((Josephine.Mason@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8925; Reuters 
Messaging: josephine.mason.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: ASIA STORM/COMMODITIES