Ethylene Plant Operating Rate Hits Record Low in Japan

Tokyo, May 21 (Jiji Press)–The ethylene plant operating rate in Japan hit a record low of 67.3 pct in April, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association said Thursday. “The operating rate has been reduced in order to maintain supplies,” Koshiro Kudo, chairman of the association and president of major chemical maker Asahi Kasei Corp., said. Meanwhile, ethylene production in April increased 3.6 pct from the previous month to 283,500 tons, the association said. The increase came as a plant that had been undergoing regular checkups was brought back online. Ethylene, made from naphtha derived from crude oil, is used as a material for plastics and fibers. Concerns over naphtha supplies have loomed amid turmoil in the Middle East. Kudo said that “we have secured naphtha more steadily compared with March” by sourcing it domestically and from regions other than the Middle East. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at a meeting over the Middle East situation the same day ordered her cabinet ministers to better assess the situation on the nationwide distribution of oil products. Specifically, the government will intensively conduct hearings with small businesses regarding construction materials, such as thinner and lubricant, and packaging materials for bread, confectionery and other products, via its regional branches across the country. “We will accelerate efforts to resolve supply disruptions by proactively communicating with businesses,” Takaichi said at the ministerial meeting. The government will assess the procurement situation in coordination with the National Federation of Construction Worker’s Unions, which has some 590,000 construction workers, including sole proprietors, as its members, and conduct hearings with some 160,000 bus and truck operators as well as about 14,000 bakeries and confectionery shops. Takaichi also said that the government will start releasing medical gloves from its stocks on Saturday, after receiving requests for the supply of a total of some 1.6 million such gloves from 412 medical institutions. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]