Japan’s naphtha imports fall 20% in April
30 May 2008 12:16 [Source: ICIS news]
TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s imports of naphtha for ethylene conversion in April dropped 20% due to turnarounds at Japanese cracker operators Sanyo Petrochemical and Tosoh, an industry source said on Friday.
The country imported 1.03m tonnes of naphtha in April, down from 1.3m tonnes the previous month, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
The decrease in naphtha imports was also because Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC) and Maruzen Petrochemical had stopped buying spot cargoes in April before the turnarounds at their crackers in May, said the source.
MCC planned to restart its 450,000 tonne/year cracker in Mizushima on 4 June, while the 375,000 tonne/year No1 cracker in Kashima was scheduled to be restarted on 30 June.
Maruzen Petrochemical planned to restart its 520,000 tonnes/year cracker in Chiba on 22 June.
Japan’s total cost of naphtha imports was $930.4m in April, according to METI. The price of naphtha in April was $899/tonne, up marginally from $872.4/tonne in March.
Brian Myung contributed to this article
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