Prices of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) sold within China continued to trend up this week, buoyed by rising crude values and snug supply, traders and producers said on Thursday. Non-oil grade 1502 SBR prices in China rose by yuan (CNY)100-300/tonne ($14.62-43.86/tonne) for the second consecutive week to CNY 11,800-12,100/tonne ex-warehouse (EXWH). “Chinese buying interest was mainly driven by escalating crude which has breached the $70/bbl level,” a trader said. Crude continued to rally on the back of data showing unexpected drawdowns on gasoline and distillates in the US, indicating that recession in the world's biggest economy is easing. Qilu Petrochemical's new 100,000 tonne/year SBR plant that was started up early this month was just running at 40-50% and has not had much influence on prices, said a Chinese SBR producer. “Supply wise, it is still balanced as another local SBR [producer] Lanzhou Petrochemical has shut down its 150,000 tonne/year plant for maintenance until the end of June,” the producer said.