Asia’s largest MMA line in Japan suffers one-week outage

08 July 2010 05:25  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) shut its 107,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) line in Japan, the biggest of such facility in Asia, after lightning struck the plant on 3 July, a company source said on Thursday.

The acetone cyanohydrin (ACH)-based unit would restart on Friday, said the source.

“More than 2,000 tonnes of MMA was lost. This certainly would add pressure on supply and July prices,” said the source.

MMA prices  for cargoes of up to 500 tonnes were at $2,350-2,450/tonne CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia last Friday, up $20-60/tonne week on week, based on ICIS data.

MMA demand had been booming in Asia, for application in general construction materials, as well as for use in the new segment of liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions backlit by light-emitting diodes (LED).

MRC also operates two crude C4 (butane)-based MMA line with a combined capacity of 110,000 tonne/year in Ohtake.

Other Japan-based MMA producers include Asahi Kasei and Sumitomo Chemical.

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By: Junie Lin

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