February ethylene output in Japan dips to four month lows

10-Mar-15

Japan's February ethylene production has dipped to 565,100 mt, down 8% from a month earlier, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been reported by Platts. February's production level is the lowest since October 2014, when Japan's ethylene output stood at 553,200 mt. Year on year, Japan's ethylene production fell 1.3%. Trading sources opine that Japan's ethylene production is likely drop in coming months due to turnaround season and an unplanned outage as follows: Maruzen Petrochemical has shut its 550,000 m tpa steam cracker in Chiba due to a mechanical problem, for about a week Idemitsu Kosan plans to shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker in China around the end of March or early April for annual maintenance.