Shanghai SECCO runs ACN at 80% on weak demand

29 August 2008 10:37  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical has reduced the operating rate of its acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at Shanghai by around 20% due to poor downstream demand, a company source said on Friday.

The 260,000 tonne/year plant was running at 80% as demand from downstream sectors including acrylic fibre (AF) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was very weak.

The key AF market had not shown any improvement even after China raised export tax rebates on textiles and garments to 13% from 11% on 1 August, producers and traders said.

Several AF producers were reducing operating rates as they were finding it difficult to raise prices amid waning consumer demand, sources said.

Zhejiang Jinyong Acrylic Fibre Co which was operating its 58,000 tonne/year AF unit in Ningo city, eastern Zhejiang province at 50% in early August shut it down on 22 August for an indefinite period.

Zhejiang Hangzhouwan had also shut down its 60,000 tonne/year AF plant in late August, while Gaoqiao Petrochemical was operating its 200,000 tonne/year ABS plant at 30% and FCFC Ningbo was running its 300,000 tonne/year ABS unit at less than 50% capacity, sources said.

However, some traders expected demand to rise in the next few months.

"The post-Olympics and pre-Christmas demand for AF will likely rebound, driving the demand for feedstock ACN," a Beijing-based trader said.

Helen Yan and Yolanda Chen contributed to this article
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