China's propylene imports in August rises 40% yoy

28-Sep-11

China's propylene imports in August 2011 totaled 145,649 tons, indicating a 40% spike from the 103,703 tons imported in August 2010, as per data released by Chinese customs. Platts says that the rise can be attributed to cracker turnarounds in China and higher imports from outh Korea and Taiwan who saw a dip in propylene demand due to downstream outages. In early August, Shanghai Secco Petrochemical shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker for a month of planned maintenance. The company has the capacity to produce 1.1 mln tpa of ethylene and 500,000 tpa of propylene. South Korea shipped 80,209 tons in August 2011 to China, more than double the 36,628 tons sent in August 2010, while imports from Taiwan were 10,989 tons vs no imports in August 2010. Formosa Plastics shut its 400,000 tpa polypropylene plant in Lin Yuan on August 5, after a fire at feedstock supplier Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s Mailio refinery.