OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2012. Chinese styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) producer Lanzhou Petrochemical has delayed a maintenance shutdown at its SBR plants from the end of June to early July, a company source said.

The shutdown may have been delayed because feedstock butadiene (BD) prices are low, and therefore suitable for SBR production, industry sources said.

Lanzhou Petrochemical’s SBR plants are located in Gansu province. The company originally planned to shut its 100,000 tonne/year SBR plant from 26 June to 9 August. Its smaller 50,000 tonne/year SBR plant was to be offline from 26 June to 16 July.

The maintenance delay may put pressure on the market.

SBR prices in east China were at yuan (CNY) 18,800–19,500/tonne (USD2,956–3,066/tonne) for non-oil grade SBR1502 on Tuesday. Prices for oil-extended grade SBR1712 were at CNY15,800–16,000/tonne.

Prices for both grades were up by CNY100–300/tonne from last week, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.

SBR prices are not expected to increase further due to the ample supply available at the end of June, according to industry sources.