Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals runs naphtha crackers at below 100%

03 June 2011 06:46  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals is running both its naphtha crackers in Japan at below 100% capacity partly because of weak derivative polyethylene (PE) prices, a company source said on Friday.

“[The price of] high density PE (HDPE) is very [low],” the source said, adding that this was exacerbated by the recent correction in ethylene feedstock prices to below $1,300/tonne (€897/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) NE (northeast) Asia and firm feedstock naphtha costs.

Ethylene production at the 617,000 tonne/year cracker at Chiba and the 450,000 tonne/year cracker at Osaka has been reduced since May, the source said without elaborating further.

Mitsui’s Chiba cracker will undergo scheduled maintenance on 1-27 July as planned, the source added.

($1 = €0.69)

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By: Peh Soo Hwee
+65 6780 4359

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