(ICIS) -- China's imports of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) are expected to decline further and exports are likely to increase because of new domestic capacities that have come on stream since late 2010, market sources said on Tuesday.
An estimated 450 KTa of new capacity will be added to the existing 1.05m tonnes/year of SBR production in China by the end of 2011, according to the data from Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
Demand, on the other hand, is strong but is not expected to keep pace with the growth in capacity as the country consumed an estimated 390 KT of SBR in January-April 2011, according to Chemease. The country's annual domestic demand for SBR is estimated to be at around 1m tonnes in 2011.
China's import volumes have declined by around 26% to 102,000 tonnes in January-April 2011, as compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the data from Chemease. The country exported a total of 105.2 KT of SBR in 2010, according to China Customs. In comparison, SBR exports from China in January-April 2011 have already exceeded 40.9 KT, according to the data from Chemease.