China's SBS capacity utilization plunges below 30% on higher costs

China's SBS capacity utilization rate has fallen below 30% as of September 8, as the sharp climb in SBS production costs, coupled with limited feedstock availability, forced some SBS producers to temporarily shut down or reduce capacity utilization rate.

The average weekly capacity utilization rate of styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS) plunged by 7.07 percentage points week-on-week to 28.72% on September 3, and then remained low, data from OilChem indicates. Domestic SBS weekly output stood at 11,300 tonnes, down 19.86% week-on-week. China's SBS Capacity Utilization Rate, 2025-2026 Source: OilChem Among private and