Japan's February ethylene output falls 4.4%

24 March 2008 05:30  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s production of ethylene in February fell 4.4% year on year due to operating factors of the plants, a local industry association said in a statement on Monday.

The country produced 606,100 tonnes of ethylene in February, a 5% decrease from the previous month, Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) said.

One ethylene plant was shut down in January and February, while there were no turnarounds the year before, the association added without providing further details.

Mitsubishi Chemical’s No 2 cracker in Kashima was shut down after a fire in December, and the plant was partially restarted recently.

Operating rate of the country’s ethylene plants at 100.2% in February, showed a decline of 1.5% over the previous year, but an increase of 1.1% over January’s production figures, the association said.

Among the 17 petrochemical products other than ethylene, seven products including mixed xylenes, polystyrene (PS) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) showed higher outputs in February compared with the year-ago period, it said adding that this was partly due to the increased number of work days due to the leap year.

On month-on-month comparison, production of 14 products including benzene, toluene and mixed-xylenes decreased due to plants’ operating factors, the association said.

Among the four primary resins, exports of PS increased year on year due to strong demand for digital-home-appliance applications, while all four resins had higher exports month on month.

Japan’s February petrochemical production

Product	Output (‘000 tonnes)	% change (month on month)	% change (year on year)
Ethylene	606.1	-5	-4
LDPE	153.5	-4	5
HDPE	102	1	5
PP	255.2	-4	-3
PS	76.3	3	19
Styrene monomer	257.1	-13	-10
PVC	166.1	-2	-7
VCM	245	-6	-2
MMA monomer	47.1	-1	4
Ethylene oxide	78.5	-6	-5
Ethylene glycol	58.1	-6	-11
Acetaldehyde	22.9	-27	-7
ACN	51.2	-9	-2
SBR (solid)	46.5	6	17
Butadiene rubber (solid)	21.6	-16	-3
Benzene	419.6	-10	-2
Toluene	134.5	-9	0
Xylene	523.8	-7	14

Source: JPCA

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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