Borealis starts off the challenging year 2010 with a positive result

(Borealis) -- Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, announces a net profit of EUR 54 million for the first quarter of 2010, compared to a net loss of EUR 56 million in the first quarter of 2009. Despite an increase in net debt, the company's financial position remains solid with a gearing ratio of 49% at the end of Q1, compared to 43% in Q1 2009, within Borealis' target range of 40-60%.

In line with the general market trend, both feedstock prices and polyolefin market prices continue to increase. Due to this development as well as some delays in expansion projects in the Middle East, industry margins improved during the first quarter of 2010. Borealis' positive result was also driven by an increase in sales of value added products within the company's portfolio.

In the base chemicals business group, Borealis saw some recovery with sales volumes in melamine and plant nutrients as well as in phenol. The results of Borealis' joint venture Borouge also contributed positively to the results of the first quarter.

In an effort to stay competitive, Borealis closed, as planned, its high-density polyethylene plant in Beringen, Belgium on March 31.

MRCMRC Reference

Borealis. The share in the Russian market in 2008:

polyethylene - 4.1% (including HDPE - 4.7%, LLDPE - 8.7%);
polypropylene - 3.2% (PP-impact - 7.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia over the last 5 years:
polyethylene - 11%;
polypropylene - 6%.

Leader in polymers processing technologies:
extrusion coating;
cable extrusion;
injection molding.

(Plastics Today) -- Plastics supplier Ticona (Kelsterbach, Germany) strengthens its portfolio with the acquisition of DuPont's competing liquid crystal polymer business, and also took over that company's PCT operations. Price of the purchase is not yet being revealed; DuPont's LCP and PCT ops brought in $40 million in 2009.

DuPont (Wilmington, DE) has marketed its LCP under the Zenite brand name. LCP finds use in a variety of applications but is of special interest in the electronics/eletricaldevice markets due the the material's high temperature stability. LCPs are used in switches, connectors, memory module sockets, in-play consoles, laptops, televisions and mobile phones and other electrical and electronics devices. Other suppliers of LCP include Sumitomo, Toray, Solvay Advanced Polymers and Polyplastics, which makes and markets Ticona's Vectra-brand LCP in Asia. Polyplastics recently increased its LCP capacity due to what it reports is renewed strong demand from Asian E/E device manufacturers.

In reply to questions from MPW, Ticona officials said no DuPont personnel or plant/equipment were part of the acquisition; the purchase involves recipes and intellectual property. The deal actually closed May 5, they said. Ticona will not reveal its current LCP capacity.

Polycyclohexylene-dimethylene terephthalate (PCT), marketed by DuPont as Thermx, is essentially a hyped-up polyester or PBT, offering higher heat stability and better hydrolysis resistance than those materials. Typical parts include circuit board connectors, automotive connectors, lamp sockets and relays.

MRC

(plastemart) -- In first few days of May, the market has seen two major crackers coming onstream in Asia and the Middle East - Shell Chemicals' 800,000 tpa ethylene cracker in Singapore followed by Ras Laffan Olefin Cracker in Qatar with a production capacity of 1.3 mln tpa of ethylene- the world's largest ethane based cracker, as per Chemorbis. In April, several ethylene capacities came online : Sinopec Zhenhai's 1 mln tpa ethylene cracker in China came onstream on April 20. However, the cracker encountered a problem after 8 days following the start-up, which was expected to last for a week. CNOOC-Shell (CSPC) expanded ethylene capacity from 800,000 tpa to 1 mln tpa with restart set for May 8 after delays in April. In the Middle East, Sharq Petrochemicals started commercial operations on April 1 of an ethylene cracker with 1.3 mln tpa capacity.

Some major crackers are scheduled to come onstream in Iran: Morvarid Petrochemicals is to restart its cracker with 500,000 tons/year ethylene capacity. In April, Kavian Petrochemical Company was also heard to be conducting test runs at its Olefin No. 11 complex, which consists of two large olefin plants each with a capacity of 1,200,000 tpa. The company was said to be preparing for commercial runs at the new complex in May. All of these new capacities are expected to hit the ethylene markets in the medium term as well as the downstream polymer markets. Even though Asia is suffering from tightness stemming from planned and unplanned outages in the region, the impact of new capacities may be felt soon, particularly after the start-up of Shell's Singapore cracker and the restart of Sinopec Zhenhai's cracker.

Market players also foresee that the impact of new capacities will make itself felt on the market particularly in the second half of the year, when there are more crackers expected to be brought online.

MRC

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(plastemart) -- Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemicals JV- Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co plans to shut all units at its complex for 45 days during Q2-2011, for regular test and inspection. This is in line with company policy to shut the plant every five years for test and inspection. The firm, which caters mainly to the Saudi market and Europe and North Africa, can process 400,000 bpd of crude (19% of Saudi Arabia's total refining capacity), 18 mln tpa of refined products and 2.4 mln tpa of petrochemical products.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PVC demand keeps up growing in Russian market. Limited supply of resin with K=66-68 from China and some Russian producers straighten the deficit, the prices went up to the level of RUB45.000 - 46.000/mt, according to MRC Price Reports.

Trouble with rolling-stocks of one of traditional Chinese acetylene PVC suppliers and domestic demand have led to delay of Sg-5 grade resin deliver terms. In March over 2.4 kt of Sg-5 grade PVC were delivered into Russian market, and most part of the material was delivered to final consumers. The similar import figures were fixed in the first 3 weeks of April. Some Russian producers have limited shippings of resin with K=66-68 for May.

Insufficient Russian PVC offer and limited resin supply from China have led to serious deficit in the market. Prices for acetylene PVC for the second half of May in some cases went up to the level of RUB45.000 - 46.000/mt, including VAT, FCA. According to market experts, significant PVC supplies from China are expected to partly cover the deficit.

MRC

For more information about PVC market in Russia please refer to MRC Price Reports.