China’s Fuxiang Chemical to drop operating rates at SBR plant in Apr

30 March 2012 09:04  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s Fuxiang Chemical is planning to lower the operating rate at its 100,000 tonne/year styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) plant at Quanzhou in Fujian province to 70% in April, a company source said on Friday.

The company is currently running the plant at 90% capacity, the source said.

“The plant is produce non-oil grade SBR 1502 currently, we may begin to produce oil-extended SBR 1712 in May instead of only non-oil SBR 1502,” the source said without elaborating further.

Fuxiang Chemical restarted its 50,000 tonne/year butadiene rubber (BR) plant at the same site on 28 March and is expected to run it at 60% capacity in April, the source said without specifying the current rate.

“Poor margins may be a reason for Fuxiang Chemical to reduce SBR and BR production in April because the [high] prices of butadiene (BD), a feedstock of SBR and BR,” an industry source said.

BD prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 26,000/tonne ($4,127/tonne) ex-tank Yangtze, while non-oil grade SBR was assessed at CNY23,500-24,300/tonne EXWH (ex-warehouse) east China, according to data from Chemease, an ICIS service in China on 29 March.

BR was assessed at CNY27,800-28,300/tonne EXWH east China, the data showed.

“Compared with BD prices, non-oil grade SBR 1502 and BR should be priced at above CNY25,000/tonne and CNY30,000/tonne, respectively, to ensure margins for makers,” the source added.

($1 = CNY6.30)

By: Sunny Pan

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