Japan November PVC exports fall 4.4%, VCM exports jump 57%

TOKYO (ICIS)--Japan’s exports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in November fell 4.4% year on year to 52,604 tonnes, while its overseas shipments of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) soared 57% to 78,011 tonnes, official industry data showed on Wednesday.

The narrow price difference between the two products made VCM more profitable to export, said Masaki Miyajima, vice chairman of the Vinyl Environmental Council (VEC).

On the domestic front, shipments of PVC increased 7.1% to 94,731 tonnes during the month, but this was largely due to a base effect, since the November 2009 volumes were too low, said Miyajima.

“It [the November 2010 figure] is not particularly good or bad. It is about the same as the previous months,” he added. In October, domestic PVC shipments totalled 93,117 tonnes.

For VCM, domestic shipments fell 3.2% to 145,284 tonnes, based on VEC data.

Japan produced 138,481 tonnes of PVC last month, down 4.6% year on year, while its VCM output was up 4.3% to 239,834 tonnes, according to VEC.

VCM is used mainly as a raw material for the manufacture of PVC.