Hanwha Chemical

Formosa Plastics declares force majeure on PE after Texas plant outage

Formosa Plastics Corporation USA has declared force majeure on selected polyethylene grades, effective 29 October 2026, after an unplanned shutdown of a production unit at its Point Comfort complex in Texas. The company has not said which unit is affected, how long the outage will last or how much capacity is lost. The site has an estimated combined PE capacity of 1.8-1.9 million tonnes a year. A prolonged outage could tighten supply of the affected grades in North America and reduce US export availability.

Why this mattersA sustained outage at a major US PE exporter could tighten resin supply and raise costs for film, injection moulding and other packaging converters globally.

• Force majeure effective 29 October 2026 after an unplanned shutdown of a PE unit at Point Comfort, Texas
• Point Comfort estimated PE capacity 1.8-1.9 million t/yr: about 625,000 t LDPE, 800,000 t HDPE and 465,000 t LLDPE
• Affected unit, outage duration and lost volume not disclosed
• Asian outages coincide: Chandra Asri 30-35 day turnaround at a 536,000 t/yr PE plant; Honam maintenance at a 370,000 t/yr HDPE/LLDPE swing plant
• Hanwha Chemical plans to idle at least one-third of its 335,000 t/yr LLDPE capacity for technical tests
• US PE exports serve Latin America, Europe and Asia, so a long outage could affect trade flows

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