Rising cost pressures will keep operating rates down at several plants across Asia. Japan's Idemitsu Kosan plans to bring down operating rates at its styrene monomer plant by 15%. Captive consumption of benzene will come down in August and will reach 9,000 metric ton. The extra benzene could find its way into the markets. The company's output at Tokuyama is 340,000 tpa and at Chiba is 210,000 tpa. A routine plant maintenance shutdown will keep the Tokuyama SM plant shuttered from mid September till end of October.
Jinxi Petrochemical's Styreen Monomer plant in China is currently shuttered until September, as it is undergoing a maintenance turnaround.
Jiangsu Shuangliang Lishide's 200,000 tpa No.1 SM plant will be shuttered in a bid to cope with cost pressures and the company's No.2 SM plant continues to operate at at 90% capacity.
04-Aug-08 
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