DATE: 2014-04-27
China's Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical restarted its 260,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) unit in Jinshan over the weekend of 26-27 April after completing annual maintenance, a company source said on Monday.
Maintenance work on the ACN unit, which consists of two 130,000 tonnes/year lines, started on 10 March, the source added.
The plant’s restart will increase the domestic ACN supply in May, which will put further downward pressure on prices in an already weak market, a trader said.
The domestic ACN market has been sluggish because of weak demand from downstream sectors such as acrylic fibre (AF), the trader added.
ACN prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 13,600-13,800/tonne ($2,173-2,204/tonne) ex-tank east China on 25 April, down by CNY 700-800/tonne compared with the prices on 1 April, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
Meanwhile, a second 260,000 tonne/year ACN unit at the same Jinshan site, which has been under construction since mid-March 2013, is expected to start up this year, the company source said, without disclosing a specific date.
SOURCE Icis News