Ethylene Production in 2008 Fell 11% from Previous Year

摘要

Japan's cracker operators produced 508,200 tons of ethylene in December 2008,down 24% year on year,with an average capacity utilization of 75.2%,according to a report from the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association.As a result,the ethylene production volume for the full calendar year was approximately 6.89 mn tons,an 11% drop from 2007's record high of 7.7492 mn tons and falling below the 7 mn-ton mark for the first time in 13 years.The output of major derivatives like vinyl chloride monomer,and styrene monomer and polyvinyl chloride resin were down by double digits.Although the four major resins - high-density polyethylene,low-density polyethylene,polystylene and polypropylene - marked only single-digit slides in production,significant reductions,except for low-density polyethylene,were posted for their shipment volumes.