European producers decreased export prices for PP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Under the pressure of declined contract price for propylene, European producers considerably decreased export prices for polypropylene (PP) in June, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report. Yet in May, some suppliers were forced to reduce prices by EUR 10-20/mt, depending on PP grade.
Over the month, export prices for PP in Europe were reduced, on average, by EUR 50-80/mt. Prices for homopolymer propylene in June were decreased to EUR 1.240 - 1.300/mt, FCA.

Current strengthening of euro against dollar (1.463 on Monday) was partially levelled by decreased export prices for CIS markets.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp may reschedule planned maintenance at the largest of its three naphtha crackers to second-half August from early September if some its downstream units are shut for an extended time following a fire at a pipeline on May 12, its spokesman said on Thursday. "The situation is still unclear because it really depends on the status of the downstream units," he said. "If the ethylene feedstock cannot be soaked up, we will forward the maintenance of the No. 3 cracker by two weeks."

Formosa, Asia's top naphtha buyer, operates three crackers, of which its No. 3 unit has a nameplate capacity of 1.2 million tpy.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- Huntsman Corp. returned an ethylene unit to normal operations at its Port Neches, Texas, chemical plant after a ⌠power blip caused an interruption in operations, according to a filing with state regulators. The power interruption at the ethylene oxide unit caused the flaring of ethylene and ethylene oxide, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

⌠The ethylene unit returned to normal operation as soon as the ethylene oxide unit was restarted yesterday, Anne Knisely, a spokeswoman based at company headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas, said in an e-mail today.

The facility, called a cracker, splits oil products like naphtha and liquefied petroleum gases through pressure and heat. Outages can increase prices for ethylene and propylene as companies turn to spot markets to help them meet supply contracts. The plant is 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Houston.

MRC

(ICIS) -- French industrial gases firm Air Liquide expects to double its annual sales revenue from Singapore to USD 813m by 2015, with three new facilities built at Jurong Island, a company executive said on Friday. The company's Singapore Oxygen Air Liquide (SOXAL) unit inaugurated its Jurong Island infrastructure expansion on Friday. Jean Marc de Royere, chairman and CEO of Air Liquide Asia Pacific and senior vice president of the Air Liquide group, said at the inauguration that the company expects to invest more in Singapore. He also told ICIS that he expects China to overtake Japan as a major revenue contributor to the company in three years' time.

Japan is the company's biggest contributor from the region with sales at USD 1.74 bln against Asia Pacific sales of EUR 2.6 bln in 2010.

China generates just half of Japan's contribution, but growth in China is very strong, de Royere added.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- Specialty thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) supplier Merquinsa (Barcelona, Spain) has opened its first office in China to provide TPU product training, application development and technical sales & marketing support to local users. The Guangzhou operation is headed up by technical sales manager Stephen Xu. Merquinsa global business manager Jean-Marc Galvez (right) toasts Guangzhou office opening with customers and distributors.

Speaking at the company's Innovation Award Ceremony and Dinner held during the recent Chinaplas show in Guangzhou, global business manager Jean-Marc Galvez said the new office would spearhead the companies efforts to raise its China sales to 30% of global sales by 2015.

Merquinsa highlighted the development of a 62% bio content TPU grade for electronic applications at Chinaplas: Pearlthane ECO D12T80. The soft, transparent, UV- and scratch-resistant grade targets cellphone applications, among others, and features 40% less CO2 emissions.

MRC