Japan’s PVC production falls 17.9% in 2008

21 January 2009 13:49  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in 2008 fell 17.9% to 1.74m tonnes from the previous year, a local industry association said on Wednesday.

Among domestic shipments, 658,001 tonnes were used for rigid PVC in 2008, down 8.8% from 2007, the Vinyl Environmental Council (VEC) said.

Exports of PVC decreased 34.3% to 550,902 tonnes from the year earlier, the council said.

Total production of PVC in December alone fell 30.6% to 126,185 tonnes from December 2007, according to the association.

Domestic shipment for use in rigid PVC totalled 47,218 tonnes in December, down 19.9% from the same time a year before.

Total exports of PVC in December declined 38.7% to 44,450 tonnes, VEC said.

The country’s output of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) in 2008 was down 12.1% to 2.76m tonnes, while domestic shipment for the production of PVC amounted to 1.77m tonnes, a 17.9% decrease from 2007, according to the association.

Exports of VCM totaled 754,273 tonnes in 2008, down 1.6% from 2007, VEC said.

In December, total VCM production fell 8.8% to 246,946 from the year-ago period, while exports increased 23.9% to 80,390 tonnes, the association said.

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By: Tomomi Yokomura
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