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According to statistics released recently by the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association, in January of this year, the utilization rate of ethylene production facilities in Japan was 75.8%. This is the target value used to measure economic conditions, indicating that the utilization rate of ethylene equipment in Japan has been below 90% for 42 consecutive months. This is also why the utilization rate of ethylene equipment in Japan has remained below 70% for five consecutive months. In January, Japan’s ethylene production was 433,700 tons, a 6.9% decline year-on-year. Another reason for the decline in production is that a set of production units underwent scheduled maintenance in January, whereas no equipment maintenance took place during the same month last year. The association noted that due to the overall increase in ethylene production in Asia, the utilization rate of ethylene production facilities in Japan has remained low for a long time. The industry is currently discussing the integration of existing equipment to optimize production capacity. In January this year, the Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Asahi Kasei announced that they would close their joint factory in Okayama Prefecture by the 2030 fiscal year and integrate it into Mitsui Chemical’s factory in Osaka Prefecture. Currently, Japanese chemical companies plan to shut down 4 production lines across the country by fiscal year 2030, resulting in a 30% reduction in production capacity to 4.4 million tons.