The ABS and PS market trend in February basically followed the price fluctuation of styrene, and the overall market rose first and then fell. During the Spring Festival, the ABS and PS plants in China had a negative maintenance adjustment. Although the middle and downstream began to resume production after the Spring Festival, the resumption speed is not as high as expected. The pace of replenishment was also slow, which made some effect on the demand. From the latest tracking, about 1.575 million tons of ABS production capacity was suspended as plant maintenance, decreasing 21.25% compared to the previous month. PS plant maintenance involved about 2.73 million tons of capacity, increasing 50% compared to the previous month.
Petrochemical plant | Capacity(million tons/year) | Operating rate |
Daqing Petrochemical | 10 | 70% |
Shandong Haijiang | 20 | 50% |
Shanghai Gaoqiao | 20 | 70%-80% |
LG Chem (Huizhou) | 45 | 70% |
Tianjin Dagu | 40 | 65% |
Taihua Plastics (Ningbo) | 50 | 70% |
Jilin Chemical | 58 | 80% |
Zhangzhou Chi Mei | 45 | 40% |
Kingfa Sci.&Tech. | 60 | 30%-40% |
Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical | 40 | 50% |
Jieyang Petrochemical | 60 | about 80% |
Ineos Styrolution (Ningbo) | 60 | less than 50% |
Changke New materials | 10 | suspended at the beginning of the month, restarted after the Lantern Festival |
Zhenjiang Chi Mei | 85 | D series plants suspended from January 18, the operating rate dropped to 50% |
Trinseo (Zhangjiagang) | 7.5 | suspended at present |
Lihuayi Lijin | 40 | AG120 suspended for maintenance, M347 operates regularly |
North Huajin Chemical | 15 | one line suspeneded for maintenace, the other line operates regularly |
Table 1: changes of domestic ABS plants in February
From Table 1, during the Spring Festival in 2024, most ABS petrochemical manufacturers kept a relatively low operation level. Huajin Chemical and Lihua Yilijin have been in the state of maintenance at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2023, and have not yet restarted. CNPC also plans to shut down the 600,000-ton/year ABS plant in Jieyang for maintenance from March 12 to 23. From this point of view, ABS operating rate may be difficult to recover in the short and medium term.
Petrochemical plant | Capacity(million tons/year) | Operating rate |
Jiangsu Sabron | 20 | the clear PS unit and modified PS unit turn down capability |
Anqing Xingda | 12 | suspended in early January and restarted on February 28 |
Hebei Baosheng | 10 | suspended for maintenance on January 16 |
Shandong Lanhua | 10 | suspended for maintenance in mid to late January |
Tianjin Rentai | 14 | suspended on January 23 and restarted one line at the end of February |
Shandong Yuhuang | 20 | suspended for maintenance at the end of January |
Shandong Daoer | 10 | suspended for maintenance at the end of January and restarted on February 20 |
Hengshui Baike | 10 | suspended for maintenance on January 28 |
Changke New materials | 5 | suspended for maintenance on January 31 and restarted at the end of February |
Ineos Styrolution (Foshan) | 20 | suspended for maintenance at the beginning of February and restarted successively from February 25 |
Lianyungang Petrochemical | 40 | suspended on February 2 |
Ningbo Union King | 40 | turned down capacity at the beginning of February and returned to normal production level in late February |
Rastar EP Materials | 30 | suspended successively from February 4 and restarted one line at the end of February |
Huizhou Renxin | 30 | suspended successively from February 5, restarted one clear PS line on February 19, restarted one more line on February 25 |
Astor Chemical Industrial (Jiangsu) | 12 | suspended for maintenance on February 6 and restarted on February 18 |
Anhui Haoyuan | 10 | the operating rate dropped to about 60% in early to mid-February and returned to normal production level in late February |
Zhejiang Yisu | 40 | suspended in early to mid-February and restarted in late February |
Zhanjiang New Zhongmei | 10 | one clear PS line suspended on February 8 and resumed double-line production on February 19 |
Fujian Tianyuan | 12 | the clear PS line turned over to product modified PS in late February and started double-line production at the beginning of March |
Dushanzi Petrochemical | 30 | Two clear PS lines and one modified PS line operated normally, plans to suspend for maintenance from mid-May to mid-July |
Table 2: changes of domestic PS Plants in February
From Table 2, the production suspended or reduced of PS plant are more concentrated under the industry loss. The operating rate during the Spring Festival holiday has dropped as scheduled and updated the lowest level in recent years. With the end of holiday, the production of PS was still slow to recover, which maintains at a low level overall. At present, Anqing Xingda, Rentai Chemical, Shandong Dowell, Changke New materials, Ineos Styrolution (Foshan), Ningbo Union, Rastar EP Materials, Astor Chemical, Zhejiang Yisu and Zhanjiang New Zhongmei have successively restarted the plants. In addition, Dushanzi Petrochemical plans to suspend production for maintenance during mid-may to mid-July.
The recovery of downstream is slower than expected. During the Spring Festival, the inventory accumulation in the market is obvious, and the upstream cost support is also gradually decreasing. All these factors intensify the contradiction between supply and demand, so that the rigid plastic market rose in February after a correction. In the future market, some domestic maintenance plant will continue to recover, but the recovery of demand remains to be seen. The industry insiders is cautious about the rigid plastic market trend next month, and continue to pay attention to the cost trend, the overall downstream resumption of production and the operating rate of the plants.
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