MOSCOW (MRC) -- In April polypropylene (PP) production in Ukraine reduced by 15% as a result of declined refining in Lisichanskiy refinery, according to MRC ScanPlast.
LINIK (Lisichanskiy refinery) reduced refining of oil stock by 34% to 374.9 KT in April, supplies to the plant reduced by 39,9 % to 341.1 KT. Despite such a considerable reduction of oil conversion, polypropylene (PP) output reduced only by 15% compared to March and made 7.85 KT. In May at the expense of increased supplies of oil it is expected that production will reach the level of March.
Decline in PP production at LINIK doesn't affect the balance of the domestic market. The Ukrainian producer keeps on supplying efficient volumes of the polymer to the domestic market, reducing only export deliveries. In early May the enterprise raised the prices for PP more than by USD 140/mt, having reached the level of prices for the European PP.
Despite the growth of the contract price for propylene in Europe in this month, in May European producers declined export prices for propylene by EUR 10-20/mt. Current weakening of euro against dollar and, as a result, against national currency made the European material more available for Ukrainian converters.