South Korean petrochemical producer LG Chem will begin planned maintenance at its styrenics production units in Yeosu, South Korea, from the second half of October.
The maintenance would affect the company's polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) capacities and is expected to last around two weeks, according to a source close to the matter.
LG Chem has a combined PS, ABS and EPS production capacity of around 1.1mn t/yr, with ABS production taking up a large majority of the production volume. LG Chem will not be purchasing any feedstock styrene monomer (SM) cargoes for October due to the turnaround, but will be looking to procure an estimated 30,000-40,000t of spot SM for its production needs in November, market sources said. Turnarounds at fellow producers Lotte Chemical and Yeochun NCC's (YNCC) SM production plants — which are set to begin in mid-October — would bring a combined 950,000 t/yr of SM capacity off line. Deals for cfr South Korea SM concluded at $18-22/t premiums to published cfr China assessments in the week to 17 August, traders said.
