Japan's output of vinyl acetate monomer in February fell 28.7% from January and 20% from a year earlier to 38,025 mt due to lower demand for polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA, statistics from the Japan VAM and PVOH Industry Association released Wednesday showed.
PVA is a major end-user of VAM in Japan. In the first two months of 2011, 74% of the total VAM output of 68,061 mt was used for PVA production, the statistics showed.
PVA production in February was down 17.5% from the previous month at 18,373 mt, which was down 3% from the same month 2010.
Shipments of VAM to PVA producers fell 25.8% from January to 28,983 mt, which was also 17% lower from the same month last year.
Meanwhile, exports of VAM rose from 950 mt in January to 1,734 mt in February, but as a whole, exports accounted for a relatively small portion of Japan's total production.
Exports of PVA rose to 7,647 mt in February, up 27.7% from January but down 11% from a year earlier.
At the end of February, VAM stocks in Japan stood at 32,310 mt, almost unchanged from 32,326 mt in January, but down 3% from the previous year.
PVA and its downstream products are used for the production of LCD screens and adhesives, as interlayer in glass for automobiles and buildings, and as paper processing agent and stabilizer for polyvinyl chloride polymerization
