China’s Shandong Yulong unexpectedly shuts one of the new PP lines

Shandong Yulong Petrochemical has unexpectedly taken offline one of its newly started-up PP lines in Shandong, China, on 8 January 2025 without providing specific reasons. The No. 2 production line was producing on-spec cargoes at the time of the incident.

The No. 2 PP line, which has an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons, commenced operations in late December 2024 and swiftly stabilised its operating rates. As of this report, no timeline for the restart has been announced.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 and No. 3 PP lines, with a combined nameplate capacity of 700,000 tons/year, remain operational.

The producer also started up two HDPE/LLDPE swing units in December, bringing 1 million tons in annual output to the market together with a 300,000 tons/year standalone HDPE line. 

There are market talks that the shutdown of the No. 2 PP unit might have been driven by the recent market softness. However, industry insiders do not expect the production disruption to have major impacts on the near-term market, given the still comfortable supply conditions.