Japan May polymer exports up significantly

22 June 2007 08:32  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s exports of polymers in May rose significantly, with polystyrene (PS) recording the highest increase of 149% compared with the same period a year ago, statistics from a local industry association showed on Friday.

The country exported 3,600 tonnes of PS in May, up from May 2006, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) said in a statement.

This was, however, a 1% decrease from 3,700 tonnes in April.

May exports of polypropylene (PP) recorded a 32% year-on-year rise to 33,200 tonnes, while that of both low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) were up 23%.

Meanwhile, domestic shipments of LDPE and PP in May were record high at 138,700 tonnes and 235,500 tonnes respectively, both of which were 2% up from the same month in 2006, the association said.

The statistics also included the country’s petrochemical output which showed that for most products, including ethylene, styrene monomer (SM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and acrylonitrile (ACN), production was higher than the same period a year earlier primarily because fewer plants were shut for turnarounds.

However, output of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer, acetaldehyde, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and toluene fell.

		Output	Shipment			Inventory
			Japan	Exports	Total
LDPE	Quantity	156	138.7	23.4	162.2	391.5
	% change on month	7	2	27	5	-2
	% on year	11	2	23	5	5
HDPE	Quantity	81.4	85.6	9	94.6	174.9
	% change on month	-4	6	3	6	-8
	% on year	-1	4	23	5	-3
PP	Quantity	265.3	235.5	33.2	268.7	627.5
	% change on month	7	1	22	4	0
	% on year	18	2	32	5	16
PS	Quantity	78.1	78.7	3.6	82.3	106.1
	% change on month	-7	8	-1	7	-4
	% on year	1	10	149	13	11

 

Product	output	% change month-on-month	% change year-on-year
ethylene	642.2	3	9
LDPE	156	7	11
HDPE	81.4	-4	-1
PP	265.3	7	18
PS	78.1	-7	1
styrene monomer	290.9	10	10
PVC	177.5	6	12
vinyl chloride monomer	236.7	-13	1
MMA monomer	43.5	-10	-6
ethylene oxide	84.2	17	16
ethylene glycol	66.7	25	32
acetaldehyde	32.4	3	-4
ACN	67.5	7	17
SBR (solid)	39.1	8	-1
butadiene rubber (solid)	24.5	2	8
benzene	406.7	-1	9
toluene	121.5	-1	-1
xylene	448	-9	5
All figures are in thousands of tonnes and percentage.
All the percentages are rounded off after the decimal point.

Source: JPCA

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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