Japan's chemical production rose significantly in May
According to JPCA, the average operating rate of Japanese naphtha crackers in May increased by 3.2 percentage points from April to 91.7%. However, ethylene production in May was still 2.8% lower than the same period of last year, when the average operating rate of crackers was 97.3%. According to JPCA, there were two cracker installations in Japan in May, and there were no shutdowns to repair the crackers in April. In May last year, three crackers were repaired in Japan.
According to JPCA, 11 of the 17 chemicals other than ethylene produced in May were higher in April than in April. These chemicals include low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polystyrene. (PS), styrene monomer (SM), and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), etc. The main reason is that the number of days of construction of these chemical production facilities increased in May. Of these 11 chemicals, SBR production increased the most.
In addition, the output of 13 chemicals in Japan declined in May compared with the same period of last year, mainly due to the decline in the operating rate of the device.