MOSCOW (MRC) -- Earthquake in Japan, whose economy is the third biggest in the world, resulted in serious consequences. In particular, the earthquake forced to shutdown some petrochemical plants, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.
Operation at some crackers with total capacity 1.8 mln tpa has been suspended, other enterprises have lowered their loading. On the one side, suspension and lowered loading at crackers resulted in reduced demand for naptha in the region that immediately resulted in decreasing quotations for naptha for the first time over a few weeks.
On the other hand, it is not excluded that the absence of ethylene and propylene supplies in the region from some Japanese producers may result in deficit in the market and, as a consequence, in growing quotations for olefins/polyolefins. Now many market players expect complete estimation of the Japanese catastrophe consequences for a whole Asian region.
The earthquake in Japan, though, won't have a direct effect on polymers market in FSU. Polymers supplies form this country are single for a whole FSU region and have no effect on market balance. At the same time this fact may have an indirect influence through Chinese and South Korean producers whose share in the markets of FSU by some products makes 30-50% (pipe polyethylene and polypropylene, PVC, EPS, etc).