SM price surge in Asia as plant enter maintenance shutdown season

In Asia, styrene monomers climb to 6-months high this week as a series of Fareast Asia plants enters maintenance shutdown season keeping supply limited while downstream demand has improved. Styrene monomers based on FOB Korea term rise sharply in the second half of Feb 2016 to closed at $1040/t on 1 Mar.

Japanese and Korean plants to be brought offline during Mar-Apr 2016 period is supporting the current firming trend. Some of the schedules are shown in the following table.

With these shutdowns, the market is estimated to have a production loss of about 254,000 tons of styrene in the first quarter of 2016. Meanwhile, downstream styrenic plants within the region is reportedly increasing operating rate after the Chinese New Year break. Industry players expect to see styrene monomers costs to continue with the firming trend in the near term.

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