2.2.

4 Comparison of Product Price and Raw Materials Price

TABLE Y: Price per tonne for Product and Raw Materials

Type Product Raw Materials

Ethylbenzene Benzene Ethylene
Price per tonne RM3168.99/tonne RM2650.00/tonne RM4270.00/tonne
(as per August 2016) (current) (current)
Total RM 6920.00/tonne
(current)

Based on Table Y, the market price for ethylbenzene was calculated by using its market price
in 2016 as the basis. According to Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (2016), the
lowest market price for ethylbenzene in August 2016 was RM2859.56/tonne and its highest
market price in August 2016 was RM3478.42/tonne. The average price is calculated to be
used as the basis of the study and it was priced at RM3168.99/tonne.

For the raw materials, the price per tonne are calculated as follows:

Benzene :RM2.65/kg × 1kg/0.001 tonne = RM2650.00/tonne

Ethylene :RM4.27/kg × 1kg/0.001 tonne = RM4270.00/tonne

With high demand of ethylbenzene from countries all around the world, specifically the ones
from the Asia-Pacific region, it is an economically viable choice to design a plant that
generates a large amount of ethylbenzene as our commodity, to be exported to other foreign
countries. Ethylbenzene can be produced using a few alternatives which will be highlighted
in the upcoming sections. Since the current price per tonne for the raw materials is
RM6920.00/tonne in total, importance is given to the alternative that maximises the feedstock
conversion and the product yield. As the average market price for ethylbenzene was priced at
RM3168.99/tonne in 2016, it is estimated to cost even higher at the present time due to its
increasing need to be used in many other production industries.