Major China expandable polystyrene producers, Xingda Group and Loyal Group -- with a combined production capacity of nearly 3 million mt/year -- are operating their plants at reduced rates of 40%-50% this week, before the Lunar New Year holidays, company sources said Wednesday.
The holidays will be over February 9-16.
Taiwan-owned Loyal Group is running its six EPS plants in China at an overall operating rate of about 50% this week, a company source said, adding that several smaller Chinese EPS producers had already shut their plants in January due to weak demand. Loyal reduced the run rate of its plants from the previous week, but the source did not reveal the previous operating rate.
The Taiwanese company has a total production capacity of over 1.5 million mt/year of EPS in China.
Loyal this week is offering general purpose EPS at $1,840/mt and flame retardant EPS at $1,920/mt, both on an FOB China basis, unchanged from the previous week, and similar to the prices assessed by Platts last Wednesday.
In China, the winter months are typically the low-demand season for EPS as the construction industry -- one of the main end-users -- reduces its activity. Similarly, overseas demand from countries in the northern hemisphere usually slows down over winter.
Another large EPS producer, China's Xingda Group, is operating its five plants at about 40% of their capacity this week, a company source said, without giving further details.
Xingda's plants can make over 1.2 million mt/year of EPS.
