Japan Sun Oil withdrew from its styrene business

Recently, Japan's Sun Oil announced that the company has decided to withdraw from the styrene business and close its 370,000 tons/year styrene plant in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, but did not disclose the specific closure time
.

In 2004, Sun Oil acquired Mitsui Chemicals' styrene business, including the Ube Plant
.
Sun Oil said that in recent years, the styrene market is expected to be in an uncertain business environment
as the world moves towards carbon neutrality.
For this reason, the company decided to withdraw from its existing styrene production business and retrofit
the Yamaguchi plant.
Sun Oil also operates a 397,000 mt/year ethylbenzene (EB) feedstock plant in Ube, and the company has not said whether the EB unit will shut down
.

According to S&P Global, Japan's total styrene production capacity is 2.
02 million mt/year
.
Sun Oil is Japan's fourth-largest producer of styrene
.
Idemitsu Kosan is the largest producer with a capacity
of 550,000 tons/year at the Chiba and Shunnam plants.
With a production capacity of 440,000 tons/year in Oita, NS Styrene Monomer is the second largest styrene producer
in Japan.
Asahi Kasei is the third largest producer with a production capacity
of 390,000 tons/year in Kurashiki.