Tokyo — Polyurethane production in Japan reached its second highest level since the crash of 2009, but was down by 3.2% on 2018.
Although that is a significant recovery from the recent low it is now 67.5% of its level in 1997. In 1997, Japan produced 296.6 kT.. In 2009, Japan produced 55% of that.
But as the year ended in December 2019 the trend was downward. Production was down by 8.8% compared with the same month in 2018. This marks the third consecutive months of production falling by 8% or more compared with the 2018 month.
In total, Japan produced 15.4 kT of polyurethane in December 2019 This compares with 16.91 kT in December 2018. The fall in production was 1496 tonne.
The country produced 9.9 kT of flexible foam in December 2019 down 839 tonne on December 2018. The nation produced 5.5 kT of rigid foam in December 2019. This compares with 6.2 kT in the same month in 2018.
Overall, Japan produced 200.2 kT polyurethane in 2019, compared with 206.9 kT in 2018. This is a decline of 3.2%.
The figures come from Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
