Japan’s ethylene production in February stood at 565,100 mt, down 8% from a month earlier, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said late Monday, March 9.
Year on year, Japan’s ethylene production fell 1.3%.
February’s production level is the lowest since October last year, when Japan’s ethylene output stood at 553,200 mt, the data showed.
Trading sources said Japan’s ethylene production would likely drop in coming months due to turnaround season and an unplanned outage.
Japan’s Maruzen Petrochemical shut its 550,000 mt/year steam cracker in Chiba on Monday last week due to a mechanical problem.
The cracker is due to be restart in the middle of this week.
Idemitsu Kosan plans to shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker in China around the end of March or early April for annual maintenance.
The steam cracker is able to produce 374,000 mt/year of ethylene. It is expected to be shut for around two months.
– Platts.com
