FocusAsia styrene supply to remain tight

21 November 2007 09:02  [Source: ICIS news]

By Clive Ong

 

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Tight availability of styrene monomer (SM) in Asia is expected to feature in the first half of 2008, despite new capacities set to come on stream in the first quarter, traders and producers said on Wednesday.

 

Market participants did not expect the situation to ease due to several turnarounds in Japan scheduled from January through to June 2008.

 

In terms of new capacity, Chevron Phillips’ 777,000 tonne/year unit in the Middle East is expected to debut in the first quarter, while Shuangliang Lishide’s eastern China unit will double its output to 400,000 tonnes/year during the same period.

 

Lotte Daesan is also expanding its Korean unit by 180,000 tonnes/year in tandem with its fellow SM makers. 

 

Facilities scheduled for turnarounds during February to April include Idemitsu’s 210,000 tonne/year Chiba unit, Asahi’s 320,000 tonne/year and 390,000 tonne/year units in Mizushima, Nippon Steel’s 190,000 tonne/year Chiba unit and Nippon SM’s 230,000 tonne/year Oita plant. Meanwhile, Denka’s 240,000 tonne/year Chiba unit will head undergo a turnaround in May.

 

Besides these turnarounds, traders said the full impact of new SM capacities would be further diluted by the expansion in downstream styrenic plastics output for the remainder of 2007 and 2008.

 

Chinese consumption of SM is expected to increase by more than 700,000 tonnes/year in 2007, which will absorb a portion of the additional SM supply coming out from the Middle East and Asia in 2008. This ball park calculation does have not take into account other smaller consumer markets of SM like unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) and styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR).

 

New capacities for expandable polystyrene (EPS) include Loyal Chemical’s expansion of its eastern China plants (Jiangyin and Ningbo) by a total of 300,000 tonnes/year. Ming Dih Group has expanded its EPS facility in Taiwan by 36,000 tonnes/year.

 

Polystyrene (PS) capacities in China had also increased this year with Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC) starting up its new 200,000 tonne/year unit in Ningbo.

 

Capacity of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) in China saw the greatest increase in 2007. Chimei Corp and Grand Pacific Petrochemicals Corp raised their ABS capacities in Zhenjiang by 100,000 tonnes/year each. FCFC increased its capacity in Ningbo by 150,000 tonnes/year and Jilin Petrochemicals also started up its 180,000 tonne/year unit.

 

Additionally, Toray Plastics Malaysia is on track to raise its output by 110,000 tonnes/year by April 2008.

 

 

Product	Company	Location	Additional Capacity	Time
EPS	Loyal Group	Jiangyin,China	150 kt	End 07
		Ningbo,China	150 kt	End 07
	Ming Dih Group	Kaohsiung, Taiwan	36 kt	Sep 07
PS	FCFC	Ningbo,China	200 kt	Oct 07
ABS	Grand Pacific	Zhenjiang,China	100 kt	Oct 07
	FCFC	Ningbo,China	150 kt	July 07
	Jilin Petchem	Jilin, China	180 kt	Q2 07
	Toray	Penang,Malaysia	110 kt	Apr 08

  

 

 

By: Clive Ong
+65 6780 4359

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