China’s PP market set for new turnarounds in September-October period

Several Chinese producers have scheduled maintenance shutdowns at their polypropylene (PP) plants in the September-October period.

According to markets sources, Reform Corporation shut its methanol-to-propylene (MTP) and downstream PP plants in Inner Mongolia as of September 11 for turnaround. The company will keep the 460,000 tons/year MTP plant shut for a month. Shenhua Baotou will also carry out a maintenance shutdown at its PP plant located in Baotou on September 15. The 300,000 tons/year plant is expected to remain offline for fifteen days.

Heading to October, Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical also plans to shut its coal-to-olefin plant in Shaanxi in early month for maintenance. The plant is able to produce 400,000 tons /year of PP. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical will also have maintenance shutdown at its two PP lines, each with a capacity of 100,000 tons/year starting from October 12 until October 30.

Meanwhile, Shenhua Xinjiang already started a maintenance shutdown at its coal based PP plant on August 20 and the 450,000 tons/year plant will be restarted as of September 15. Plus, several other Chinese producers have ongoing PP maintenance shutdowns that are slated to end in September and November, including at Fund Energy and Sinopec Shijiazhuang Refining and Chemical.

To see further details about the most updated news of new capacities as well as shutdowns and restarts around the globe at a glance, please visit ChemOrbis PP Production News (For members only)

China’s import and local PP markets have been following a mostly firming trend since the first half of July and the second half of June, respectively, according to weekly average prices on ChemOrbis Price Wizard. The ongoing bullish trend was attributed to the limited number of import offers, higher propylene prices in Asia as well as the ongoing strict environmental inspections. Re-strengthening PP futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange as of September 12 continued to support the sentiment as well despite the previous losses occurred last week.

Players expect supplies to be constrained following the shutdowns, which is likely to put an upward pressure on prices and support the strong market sentiment.