Long-term negative production profit leads to low capacity utilization rate of PDH units in China, and propylene supply is estimated to constantly tend down in December on the basis of current maintenance plans learnt by OilChem.
As the 600,000 tonnes/year PDH unit of Jiangsu Ruiheng New Material Technology produced qualified products in late November, the number of China's PDH units reached 31, with a total capacity of 17.27 million tonne/year.
Source: OilChem
China's PDH operation fluctuates obviously as its production profit remains negative for a long term, 9 PDH units are shut down so far, and the involved capacity totals 4.25 million t/y. The monthly average capacity rate was 62% or so in November, which was the lowest level in H2 2023.
According to OilChem, with the total PDH capacity of 2.5 million t/y, 4 producers have maintenance plans before the New Year, and the PDH capacity utilization rate might fall below 60% in December. Under such circumstances, propylene supply is estimated to shrink in the market.
Written by Ariel Guo, gq@oilchem.net
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com
