Japan's Jan exports of three primary resins dip on poor demand

17 February 2012 08:46  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS)--Japan’s exports of three of the four primary resins decreased in January year on year and also over the previous month because of poor regional demand and the Lunar New Year holidays in China, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) said in a statement on Friday.

Exports of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) fell 10% to 14,200 tonnes in January from December 2011, and decreased 17% year on year, while exports of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) decreased 57% month on month to 6,500 tonnes in January, down 37% from January 2011, official data from the JPCA showed.

A total of 14,600 tonnes of polypropylene (PP) was shipped out in January, down 23% from the previous month, and down 41% year on year, but exports of polystyrene (PS) increased 19% month on month to 2,000 tonnes, and rose 11% year on year, according to the association.

The large year-on-year decreases for the exports of LDPE, HDPE and PP were partly because demand in Asia did not show an improvement from the corresponding period a year before, the JPCA said.

Japan’s production of 16 chemicals, among 18 primary petrochemical products, including ethylene, HDPE, PP, PS, styrene monomer (SM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), acrylonitrile (ACN), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene and xylene increased in January from the previous month, the JPCA said.

On year-on-year comparison, production of six products including ethylene, PP, ethylene glycol (EG), SBR, toluene and xylene increased while 12 products showed decreases, the JPCA said.

Among these petrochemical products, acetaldehyde showed the largest month-on-month increase in output by 58% to 17,600 tonnes in January, but decreased 12% year on year, followed by PP, which rose 19% to 249,400 tonnes in January from the previous month, and increased 1% year on year, the JPCA data showed.

Among the 12 chemicals which showed decreases from the corresponding period a year before, production of VCM declined most significantly by 38% to 161,600 tonnes in January from the year-before period, but increased 11% from the previous month, followed by ACN, which decreased 30% year on year but increased 12% month on month to 48,600 tonnes, according to the JPCA.

By: Tomomi Yokomura
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