Japan's Idemitsu Kosan is maintaining runs at its three styrene monomer plants at reduced rates of about 70-80% due to poor margins and low export demand, a company source said Tuesday.
The company has a 210,000 mt/year plant at Chiba, and two plants at Tokuyama -- a 120,000 mt/year No. 1 unit and a 220,000 mt/year No. 2 unit. Runs were reduced in November last year to about 80% for the Tokuyama plants and about 65% for the Chiba unit, Platts reported previously.
The source said export demand has been "worse than expected after the Lunar New Year holidays", but he remained optimistic that the market would improve in March and April.
Idemitsu plans to shut all three plants for turnarounds this year. The Chiba plant will be shut for about a month from mid-March, while both plants at Tokuyama will be shut for about a month from mid-September.
