China's propylene imports rose by 40% to 145,649t in August 2011, up from 103,703t reported in the same month of 2010, a Chinese customs report says.
According to Platts, the rise was due to cracker turnarounds in China and higher imports of propylene from several countries.
In early August, Shanghai Secco Petrochemical shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker for a month.
The cracker has the capacity to produce 1.1 million tons of ethylene and 500,000t of propylene per year.
Taiwan's Formosa Plastics also shut its 400,000t/year polypropylene plant on 5 August 2011, following a fire at Formosa Petrochemicals' Mailiao refinery.
