Styrolution Europe has raised operating rates at its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plant at Antwerp, Belgium to 80-85% capacity in June, a company source said Wednesday.
The 250,000 mt/year ABS unit was running at 70-75% capacity in May. The reason for the increase in run rates was primarily low inventories after months of running their stocks down, the source said.
"We saw stronger demand in May compared to March and April and there was some stock building," said the source. "Our stock levels is very low."
Thus far in June, Styrolution has concluded some June contract business at a rollover to an increase of Eur10/mt over May at around Eur1,800-1,900/mt ($2,340-2,470/mt) FD NWE, the source added.
"We had an idea to ramp up to 100% but July and August are not really strong months and we do not see demand picking up," said the source. "If it does then we can ramp up further. In June, demand is weaker than May."
