Japan produces 2% less ethylene in November

21 December 2007 12:51  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s ethylene (C2) output in November fell 2% compared with the same time a year ago, a local industry association said on Friday.

The country produced 651,200 tonnes of C2 in November, down 13,100 tonnes from the previous year and a a 1.4% decrease from October, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association said in a statement.

The number of days the country’s C2 plants were in operation in November decreased 3.2% from the previous month, while it was unchanged from November 2006.

Total operating rates of the country’s ethylene plants in November were 99.3%, up 1% month on month and down 0.2% year on year.

In November, no facilities were shut for turnarounds, unchanged from the same period the previous year, while one unit was undergoing a turnaround in October.

Meanwhile, Japan’s exports of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) increased from October due to the relatively low exports in the previous month, JPCA said.

Compared with the year-ago period, Japan’s exports of PP and polystyrene (PS) increased in November, the second consecutive month of year-on-year increase. Exports of LDPE also rose from November 2006.

Of the 17 products other than ethylene the association reports on, nine products such as acrylonitrile (ACN) and styrene monomer (SM) had higher output in November compared with October due mainly to the difference in scales of turnarounds, the association said.

On year-on-year comparison, the production of 10 products including benzene and xylenes increased due to operating factors and scales of turnarounds, JPCA said.

Japan polymer exports in November (‘000 tonnes)

		Exports
LDPE	Quantity	18.5
	% change on month	11
	% on year	2
HDPE	Quantity	9.4
	% change on month	5
	% on year	-11
PP	Quantity	36.4
	% change on month	44
	% on year	60
PS	Quantity	4.4
	% change on month	-27
	% on year	163

 

Japan petrochemicals output in November 

Product	Output	% change month on month	% change year on year
Ethylene	651.2	-1	-2
LDPE	168.2	1	3
HDPE	93.4	-1	-1
PP	262.5	-5	-4
PS	69.4	-1	-10
Styrene monomer	288.2	6	7
PVC	186.2	0	0
Vinyl chloride monomer	258.3	-6	-3
MMA monomer	40.2	-4	-6
Ethylene oxide	81	-8	-1
Ethylene glycol	65.1	-2	12
Acetaldehyde	31	13	5
ACN	65.8	9	13
SBR (solid)	46.4	12	11
Butadiene rubber  (solid)	25.1	8	5
Benzene	452.7	4	6
Toluene	136.9	1	-12
Xylene	523.4	9	3
All figures are in thousands of tonnes and percentage.
All the percentages are rounded off after the decimal point.

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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