Japan's resins exports of LDPE, HDPE, PS and PP increase in June

22 July 2011 08:18  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS)--Japan’s exports of the four primary resins – low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene (PS) and polypropylene (PP) – increased in June from the previous month as the impact of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami has softened, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) said in a statement on Friday.

Up until May, Japanese producers were responding to demand that was related to restoration works following the twin disasters. Hence, their priority was on domestic shipments of the resins instead, JPCA said.

Exports of LDPE rose by 26% to 14,200 tonnes in June from May, while exports of HDPE increased by 35% to 7,800 tonnes, official data from the association showed.

A total of 14,800 tonnes of PP was exported in June, up by 14% from the previous month, while 1,900 tonnes of PS was exported, the same level as in May, according to the association.

However, exports of all of the four resins decreased from the corresponding period a year earlier, with HDPE having the largest decline of 31%, JPCA said.

The association monitors 18 primary petrochemical products, including the four resins. In June, Japan’s production of 14 chemicals including ethylene, HDPE, PS, styrene monomer (SM), ethylene oxide (EO), ethylene glycol (EG), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), polybutadiene rubber (BR), benzene and toluene decreased from May because of reduced operation days, as well as difference in the output of plants that were shut for scheduled maintenance, JPCA said.

Output of EG showed the largest month-on-month decrease by 37% to 18,500 tonnes in June. This was followed by SBR, which declined by 30% to 33,400 tonnes, according to the JPCA data.

Production of BR fell by 28% to 17,600 tonnes in June from May, while output of toluene was down by 23% to 91,300 tonnes, the data showed.

On a year-on-year comparison, the production of 11 chemicals, including ethylene, LDPE, PP, PS, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride (monomer) (VCM), EG, acrylonitrile (ACN) and xylene increased because of operating factors and the difference in scale of the various plants’ turnarounds, JPCA said.

Production of SBR showed the largest year-on-year decrease by 23%, followed by a decrease of 22% for BR, according to the association.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections

By: Tomomi Yokomura
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