Recently, SK General Chemical plans to restart the styrene monomer plant with an annual output of 450,000 tons in Ulsan, South Korea. The target restart date of the plant is December 20. The factory had previously been shut down for maintenance, which was initially expected to end in late November.
In addition to the above-mentioned plants, SK General Chemical also operates another styrene production plant in Ulsan with an annual production capacity of 350,000 tons.
In addition, South Korea has several well-known styrene producers, including Lotte Chemical, LG Chem and Hanwha Total Petrochemicals.
Styrene is an important liquid chemical raw material and is widely used as a raw material for the production of synthetic resin and synthetic rubber.
Styrene “carries oil and coal at the top and rubber and plastics at the bottom.” The upstream petrochemical industry chain of styrene is benzene and ethylene directly upstream. The downstream is relatively scattered, involving the main products expanded polystyrene (EPS) and polystyrene (PS). ), ABS resin, synthetic rubber (SBR, SBL, SBS, etc.), unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) and styrenic copolymers (such as SBC), the terminal is mainly used in plastic and synthetic rubber products.
Dumping against my country
In June 2018, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement deciding to impose anti-dumping duties on imported styrene originating from South Korea, Taiwan and the United States starting from June 23, 2018, naming five Korean companies including SK General Chemical. , tax rates range from 3.8% to 55.7%, and the implementation period is 5 years.
In June 2023, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement to initiate an end-of-term review investigation on the anti-dumping measures applied to imported styrene originating in South Korea, Taiwan and the United States, and continue to implement anti-dumping measures.