Increased demand for ABS ahead of Lunar New Year prompts Kumho to hike Dec ABS runs

13-Dec-13

South Korea's Kumho Petrochemical has raised the operating rate of its 250,000 tpa acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant at Ulsan to 90% this week, up from 80% the week before and 70-75% in November, as per a source in Platts. The hike in run rates is due to increased demand for ABS ahead of the Lunar New Year, which falls at the end of January. Rising price of feedstocks styrene monomer and butadiene have also been on the rise bringing buyers back to the market. The company is also running its 227,000 tpa polystyrene plant at Ulsan at about 90%. The polystyrene plant can produce 187,000 mt/year of high-impact polystyrene and 40,000 mt/year of general purpose polystyrene.