Spot styrene following upward trend amid shutdowns in Asia

26-Feb-15

Spot styrene prices have been following an upward trend in Asia since mid January, when the market bottomed out after falling for around six months amid plunging energy costs, according to ChemOrbis. The recent upturn in spot styrene prices is currently supported by several plant shutdowns in the region, which have created some concerns about tightening avails for the near term. According to data from ChemOrbis Price Index, spot styrene prices on an FOB South Korea basis have increased around US$140/ton since mid January while they climbed around US$60/ton when compared to initial February levels. In South Korea, SK Global Chemical shut its 350,000 tpa styrene monomer plant in August 2014, and does not plan to restart the Ulsan plant in 2015 unless margins improve. Another Korean producer, LG Chem, is planning to shut its 500,000 tpa styrene plant for planned maintenance at the end of March for about a month. Samsung Total is planning a one-month long expansion project at their smaller unit in Daesan in April 2015 from the current 280,000 tpa to 400,000 tpa. In Taiwan, Styrene Monomer shut a 160,000 tpa styrene plant on September 16, 2014 due to technical issues, and has since decided to extend the shutdown from November 2014 to Q2-2015. The producer, meanwhile, is planning to conduct a maintenance shutdown at the 180,000 tpa Kaohsiung unit in August 2015. Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan is planning to shut the 210,000 tpa Chiba styrene plant for maintenance in April for 90 days. In China, Jiangsu Leasty shut the 420,000 tpa styrene plant in H1-January, for about a month.