Japan naphtha imports up slightly in February
27 March 2008 03:15 [Source: ICIS news]
TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japanese cracker operators imported more naphtha for ethylene conversion in February from the previous month as they kept stocks for March use, a local analyst said on Thursday.
The country imported 1.236m tonnes of naphtha in February, 992 tonnes more than the previous month, statistics from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed.
March had more days than February, and the ethylene plants would be operating for an increased number of days, said an analyst from Chemnet Tokyo, a local chemical information provider.
He added imported naphtha was kept in tanks and used the following month to produce ethylene.
Japan’s total cost for naphtha imports in February was $1.07bn, up $10m from January, METI said.
The price of naphtha in February was $866.3/tonne, up 1.1% from $856.8/tonne month on month.
The analyst said naphtha prices were expected to continue to rise due to the recent price hikes of crude oil.
By: Tomomi Yokomura
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