Japan ABS exports down 8% in December

24 January 2008 10:48  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s shipments of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin for domestic use in December fell 8% compared with the previous year because demand for most applications except for automobiles had been declining, a spokesman from local chemical agency Chemnet Tokyo said on Thursday.

The country shipped 27,304 tonnes of ABS resin in December, down from the same period a year earlier, according to the Japan ABS Industry Association.

This was a 9% decrease from 30,039 tonnes in November 2007.

Among the domestic total, the shipments of ABS resin for automobile applications in December increased 12% to 7,878 tonnes year on year, the association said.

The country shipped 3,824 tonnes of ABS resin for domestic use in electric appliances, a 9% decrease from December 2006, while 3,612 tonnes of ABS resin were used for general machinery, down 10% from the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, Japan’s total exports of ABS resin in December increased 6% year on year to 17,633 tonnes, according to the association.

The spokesman failed to provide a reason for the increase, but said exports and imports generally depend on factors such as the schedules of the ships.

The country exported a total of 196,578 tonnes of ABS from January to December 2007, up 9% from the previous year, the association said.

The country’s exports of ABS resin had not changed significantly in the past 10 years, the spokesman said.

However, Japan’s ABS resin exports had generally been on a downward trend because manufacturing plants were starting to be built in countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan that can produce cheaper products, the spokesman noted.

“ABS resin has entered into an international competition,” he said.

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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