Japan's production of styrene monomer totaled 215,691 mt in July, up 7% from June and down 8% year on year, the Japan Styrene Industry Association said Wednesday.
The month-on-month increase came amid firm overseas demand, which lifted Japan's SM exports in July by 24% month on month to 98,809 mt, according to the data. However July exports were down 16% year on year.
SM sales in the domestic market totaled 118,166 mt in July, up 13% from June and up 2% year on year.
Japan's output of polystyrene, a major end-product of styrene, stood at 55,571 mt in July, up 29% from June and down 3% year on year.
Japanese SM producers shipped 48,634 mt of SM in July to domestic producers of general purpose and high impact PS. Other major domestic outlets were the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene sector at 20,178 mt, the synthetic rubber sector at 15,744 mt and the expandable PS sector at 6,968 mt.
SM inventory held by producers in Japan stood at 80,254 mt at the end of July, down 2% from the end of June and down 14% from a year earlier.
