In comparison with the same month last year, the difference of 27.45% or 97,092 mt was more startling, considering that China imported 353,702 mt of SM in July 2009.
The decline in SM imports was attributed to a surge in domestic SM production capacity.
On the supply side, the startup of Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company's 620,000 mt/year plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, since June 17, means Sinopec ZRCC was injecting almost 52,000 mt of SM into the supply chain each month at 100% run rates.
Meanwhile, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company's 700,000 mt/year SM plant in Huizhou, Guangdong province, has been running at 100% of nameplate capacity since June, producing 58,000 mt of SM each month.
Tianjin Dagu Chemical's 500,000 mt/year SM plant in Tianjin, meanwhile, was maintaining run rates of 85% in July. At this run rate, Tianjin Dagu was producing 35,000 mt of SM in July.
The latest import statistics points to a reduction of China's reliance on imported materials.
CHINA'S 2010 STYRENE MONOMER IMPORTS
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Japan 41,659 55,717 55,919 56,581 67,030 56,044
Indonesia 0 3,137 6,276 8,977 3,008 0
Iran 0 0 30,585 38,438 0 24,079
Kuwait 8,951 13,867 23,258 21,529 14,718 15,315
Saudi Arabia 56,297 38,934 70,293 43,369 36,030 14,637
Singapore 16,207 19,117 18,290 12,459 20,546 17,253
South Korea 81,587 118,224 132,911 82,732 88,140 97,825
Taiwan 28,486 53,472 28,675 40,295 30,609 31,054
US 21,542 30,055 0 2,020 0 1
Total 267,364 339,146 374,160 311,616 264,576 256,610
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
