4.1.

Demand of styrene

Styrene is an important component of material used to make strong, flexible and light-

weight product. It is mainly used in the production of polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadine-

styrene (ABS), SBR elastomers and latexes, and unsaturated polyester resins (UPR). Figure

4 show the percentage of styrene uses in industry.

Figure 4.1 The percentage of styrene uses in industry ( The Styrene Forum, 2001)

One of the common supplier of styrene in the world is China. The company can supply

styrene up to 100000 metric tonnes per month Table 4.2 below shows the supplier and

price for styrene.

Table 4.2: The supplier and price for styrene (Alibaba, 2017)

Supplier Price Purity Receive Minimum

Period Order

(day)
Shanghai Woridyang US$10-50/kg 99 3-5 1kg

Chemical Co China

Zouping Changshan Town US$1500- 99.5 15 5 metric

Zefeng fertilizer factory China 1600/metric ton

ton

4.3 Local Market Trend of Styrene and Potential Buyer

The petrochemical industry is one of expanding industries in Malaysia. The

Malaysia government and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) put many effort on the

growth of petrochemical industry that has attracted investors such as Shell, Dow Chemical,

Mitsui, Idemitsu, Titan and Eastman Chemicals. Three major petrochemical zones have

been established in Kertih, Terengganu; Gebeng, Pahang; and Pasir Gudang/Tanjung

Langsat, Johor. According to Malaysia Petrochemical Country Report (2015), Malaysia

secured total approved investment amounting to RM186.7 billion in the manufacturing,

services and primary sectors. Today, Malaysia is an exporter of major petrochemical

products. Some of petrochemical products that manufactured in Malaysia are styrene

monomer, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxides, glycols, polystyrene, acetic acid, and olefins

Figure 4.3 shows the statistic for styrene based on the capacity, demand, import and

export.
 Figure 4.3: The statistic for styrene based on the capacity, demand, import and export.

The figure shows that the capacity of styrene in Malaysia is only 240,000 tonnes per

year while the demand for styrene exceeds 280,000 tonnes per year. This shows that

Malaysia has not fully occupied the demand for the styrene because of lack of styrene

processing plant. Next, the amount of styrene imported from other countries is higher from

the amount of styrene exported to other countries. Malaysia should increase the production

of styrene to reduce the amount of styrene imported as well as increasing the amount of

styrene exported to become one of the leading country in petrochemical industry. Table 4.4

shows the potential buyer of styrene located in Malaysia.

Table 4.4 The potential buyer of styrene located in Malaysia

Company Nature of business

Tong Hin Polystyrene Industries Sdn Bhd Polystyrene ultra-lightweight foam
board, Polystyrene compressed foam
core board
Zhaori Packaging Industries (M) Sdn Expanded polystyrene (polyfoam) for
Bhd electronical and electronic products,
Icebox, insulation sheet
Toray Plastic (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd Manufactures high quality ABS resin
DuPont Malaysia participate in numerous industries from
building & construction, plastics,
electronics
Behn Meyer Polymers Sdn Bhd Manufacture of plastics and rubber
Top Glove Sdn Bhd Manufacture of natural rubber and
synthetic rubber gloves
BASF (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd producing expandable polystyrene
(EPS) for the packaging industries

Zhaori packaging Industries (M) Sdn Bhd (2003), Welcome to Zhaori Packaging
Industries (M) Sdn. Bhd Available at: http://zhaori.com.my Accessed on 9 March
2017
Tong Hin Polystyrene industries Sdn Bhd (2012), About THP, Available at:
http://www.thp.com.my/ Accessed on 9 March 2017

Toray Plastic Malaysia (2012), Introduction of Toray Plastic Malaysia Available at :

http://www.torayplastics.com.my/aboutus/introduction/index.html Accessed on 12
March 2017
Idemitsu SM (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (2014), Petrochemicals, Available at:
http://www.idemitsu.com/products/petrochemicals/index.html, Accessed on: 26
February 2017
Belgian Foreign Trade Agency (2014) Major Chemical Players Malaysia Available at:
http://www.abh-ace.be/sites/default/files/downloads/BFTA%20-%20Chemicals
%20Players%20in%20Malaysia%20LD.pdf Accessed on 9 March 2017
The Styrene Forum (2001), Information on the styrene industry worldwide, Available
at: http://www.styreneforum.org/industry_index.html Accessed on 12 March 2017