Japan: Restart of two crackers results in 8% increase in July ethylene production

17-Aug-11

After the restart of two steam crackers owned by Mitsubishi Chemical, Japan's ethylene production for July rose 8% from a month earlier to 566,000 mt, but dropped 4.7% in the July 2010, as per the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. After the completion of annual maintenance that began mid-May, Mitsubishi Chemical restarted its No. 1 steam cracker in Kashima on June 30 with the annual production capacity of 375,000 mt of ethylene, 170,000 mt of propylene. Its steam cracker in Mizushima was restarted on June 25 after an annual turnaround that also began mid-May with annual production capacity of 495,000 mt of ethylene and 320,000 mt of propylene. Production for August may be affected by the annual maintenance shutdown of Mitsubishi Chemicals’ Chiba steam cracker from July 1-27, with capacity to produce 600,000 tpa of ethylene and 331,000 tpa of propylene.