Japan produces 14% less ethylene in September

24 October 2008 09:52  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan produced 528,400 tonnes of ethylene in September, a 14% decrease from the same time a year earlier, a local industry association said on Friday.

 

This was a 12.8% decrease from August, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) said.

 

The operating rate of the country’s ethylene plants was 93.3% in September, down from 97% in September 2007 and 94.1% in August 2008, the association said.

 

Two ethylene units were shut for turnarounds in September, while one plant was shut the year before and two plants were undergoing turnarounds the previous month, it added.

 

According to JPCA, year-to-date production of ethylene reached 5.3m tonnes from January to September 2008, down 7.9% from last year.

 

Among the 17 petrochemical products other than ethylene, 13 products including high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene (PS) and styrene monomer (SM) had lower output in September compared with the same time a year before due to the differences in the scales of turnarounds and other operating factors, JPCA said.

 

Month on month, output of 15 products including low-density PE (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) and styrene monomer (PS) decreased due to the plants operating for fewer days and the difference in the number of units shut for turnarounds, the association added.

 

Meanwhile, exports of all of the four primary resins - LDPE, HDPE, PP and PS- significantly decreased year on year, while exports of LDPE, HDPE and PS decreased month on month, JPCA said.

 

Japan September chemical production

 

Product	output ('000 tonnes)	% change  month on month	% change year on year
ethylene	528.4	-13	-14
LDPE	136	-8	8
HDPE	91.1	7	-6
PP	238.3	-3	5
PS	66.4	-9	-11
styrene monomer	195.3	-20	-29
PVC	154.1	10	-16
vinyl chloride monomer	208.9	-18	-23
MMA monomer	46.3	-3	4
ethylene oxide	68.3	-13	-22
ethylene glycol	49.9	-16	-25
acetaldehyde	18.8	-23	-33
ACN	43.4	-16	-23
SBR (solid)	39.2	-11	-11
butadiene rubber (solid)	23	-2	28
benzene	353.2	-15	-17
toluene	109.2	-13	-14
xylene	439.5	-20	-11

Source: JPCA

By: Tomomi Yokomura
+65 6780 4359

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