Asia's naphtha backwardation is likely to strengthen

(ICIS) -- Asia's naphtha backwardation is likely to strengthen on expectations that Taiwanese Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) would restart its long overdue 700 KTa No 1 naphtha cracker at Mailiao sometime in September, traders said on Friday. The expectations of a restart have raised hopes of higher demand for naphtha in a market already quite short of molecules, traders said on Friday.

The time spread between the first-half October and first-half November contracts was assessed at USD 6/tonne (EUR 4.20/tonne) on Thursday, the strongest since 16 May when the inter-month spread was at USD 7/tonne, according to ICIS.

The naphtha crack spread versus October Brent crude futures was valued at USD 135.60/tonne, up by USD 6.35/tonne on the previous week.

MRC

(ICIS) -- US-based catalyst producer WR Grace's recent loss in the bidding for a business drew no immediate comments from other possible buyers on Wednesday. Earlier this year, WR Grace was in talks to make what it called a strategic acquisition, one that would significantly improve the company's business plan and growth strategy in the upcoming years, according to court documents. WR Grace did not elaborate on other details of the possible deal, including whether its catalyst or building-materials division would acquire the business.

On 29 July, WR Grace learned that it was not the successful bidder in the auction. As company policy, WR Grace does not comment on acquisitions. If the auction was for a catalyst business, possible bidders could include Albemarle, BASF, INEOS and LyondellBasell, all of which produce catalysts.

Albemarle would not comment on the auction. BASF and LyondellBasell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for INEOS's North American business was unaware of any acquisitions by the company. As far as the seller, it could be Dow Chemical. Earlier this year, sources in the financial community said Dow was trying to sell its licensing and catalyst business.

MRC

(Reuters) - LG Chem , South Korea's top chemical company, said on Thursday that its joint venture would invest USD 4 billion to build a petrochemical complex in Kazakhstan.

The joint venture with state-run Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries (KPI) will build ethylene and polyethylene plants with an annual capacity of 840 KT and 800 KT respectively and start commercial production from the facilities in 2016, LG Chem said in a statement.

MRC

(PlasticsToday) -- Far afield from its North American headquarters, plastics packaging processor / converter CCL Industries Inc., best known in this industry for its label conversion capabilities and plastic tube extrusion, plans to invest USD 30 million this year and next to expand its CCL Label operations in emerging markets. The company will build three new greenfield plants and also invest in additional capacity at some of its existing facilities. More than 80% of CCL's earnings stem from its labels business. The investment cited is in Canadian dollars but at present these convert almost one-to-one with U.S. dollars.

New will be a facility in Bangkok, Thailand, joining one already there, with the new facility designed to provide increased capacity and new technologies to support customers in the home / personal care (HPC) and beverage industries in Southeast Asia. CCL expects its Asian operations to approach 10% of global label revenues in 2012.

MRC

(ICIS-MRC) -- ICIS and specialist Russia-based benchmark price provider Market Report Company (MRC) continue to work together to bring you reports placing emphasis on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As such a weekly polypropylene (PP) price report has been launched.

The report combines MRC knowledge of local CIS markets and ICIS expertise on European and Asian markets, giving local and global insight.

The PP price report includes an aggregated price for the product that can be used for settling contracts, as well as detailed information by brand.

The report covers domestic and import prices, market news, report methodology, 12 month price history for Russia and Ukraine, market commentary on each CIS market Europe and Asia.

The report is available in both English and Russian, with domestic and import price assessments provided by locally-based editors in touch with all key players in the market.

Reports can be used to understand price drivers and fluctuations in domestic CIS markets, and on a global scale, as well as the resulting impact on the CIS market; tegotiate deals and to develop detailed analysis from price history, data and graphs.

The joint portfolio of ICIS and MRC also includes: PE, PVC and PS.

MRC