European chemical stocks fell on Monday

(ICIS) -- European chemical stocks fell on Monday as global markets made further losses from Friday due to continuing fears over the eurozone's debt problems and a sharp drop in bank shares following the recommendation of UK banking reforms.

At 09:43 GMT Barclays was trading down 1.15%, HSBC Holdings was down 1.50%, while shares in Royal Bank of Scotland Group had fallen 0.42%. The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Chemicals index at 09:46 GMT was trading down 2.42%, as shares in many of Europe's major chemical companies fell.
Top European producers were hit hard - petrochemical major BASF's shares had dropped 2.85%, while fellow Germany-based Bayer had fallen 3.22%. Dutch coatings firm AkzoNobel was down 2.44%, and France's Arkema had fallen by 1.67%.

Belgium's Solvay had fallen 3.65%, France-based industrial gases company Air Liquide was down 3.16%, while Germany's Linde was down 1.29%. Catalysts maker and precious metals trader Johnson Matthey of the UK was down by 1.46% and Swiss specialties maker Clariant was trading down 2.49%.

Asian petrochemical shares also dropped on Monday on renewed concerns on the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and its dampening impact on global demand.


MRC

(MRC) -- In case of adoption a new Customs Union regulation in Russia, which bans pouring beer in PET bottles, the Russian PET market volume will lose 30%, according to MRC analysts.

Russian brewers are among leading consumers of PET. The share of beer makes about 30% of total consumption of PET bottle pellets in Russia. About 31% make producers of carbonated soft drinks, 18% - producers of water. The rest of volumes are used in production of finished products such as bottled oil, juices, milk and so on.

In 2010, total volume of PET pellets in the Russian market made about 580 KT where the share of bottle PET was 520 KT. So, in case of new regulation adoption, which bans using PET bottles for bottling beer, the consumption of pellets just in Russia will decrease by 30% or by 156 KT.

Beer market has been stagnating for the third year. Following the results of the summer season 2011, other segments of PET packaging demonstrated slumping sales too. Indulgent summer compared with the heat wave of 2010 was the main reason for that.

According to MRC analysts, adoption of the amendment even more will aggravate the situation of Russian producers of PET pellets and PET preforms, taking away a significant share of their market, and cause serious losses to the Russian petrochemical industry in a whole. Fringe producers of caps for PET bottles and polypropylene producers will also be affected. Only in 2010, by MRC estimates, total production of beer caps in PET bottles made around 17 KT.

Here is given infographics, which shows the structure of Russian PET market and the possible affect of Customs Union amendment. Infographics can be downloaded here.

MRC

(ICIS) -- China's Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical halted operations at its 1.2m tonne/year naphtha cracker and several downstream plants overnight following a blast at an olefins pipeline, sources close to the company said on Friday.

The cracker is the single largest ethylene plant in China. The cause of the blast at the company's olefins pipeline in the petrochemical complex in Jinshan district of Shanghai is under investigation, with no definite restart dates set for the shut plants.

⌠It is too early to say when the cracker will restart, said another source close to the company. The company does not need to import ethylene spot cargoes since some of the derivative units were also taken off line, he said.

MRC

(ICIS) -- European acetone spot prices drifted lower this week with many market participants on Friday blaming a tip in the supply/demand balance as well as concerns over an economic slowdown.
While some sellers said their demand was steady and "as expected" for September, others spoke about a much slower-than-expected start to September.

In terms of pricing, spot numbers have been on a gradual decline since peaking in April this year at ┬1,100-1,185/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

During this time, spot business hit a record high of ┬1,400/tonne ($1,944/tonne) into Italy. However, this week prices dropped to the mid-to-low ┬700s/tonne in parts of northwest Europe.

But in the trade and distribution sector, a reseller said levels of ┬750-780/tonne FD NWE, were ⌠old numbers and that in order to move any cargoes now he would have to offer at a lower level.
Another Netherlands-based reseller said that to move any material it would have to buy at ┬680-690/tonne on a free carrier alongside (FCA) basis.


MRC

(BASF) -- To show its commitment to the growing importance of lightweight design in the automotive industry, in mid-2011 BASF established a lightweight composites team. The group focuses on the development of marketable materials and technologies that are suitable for manufacturing high-performance fiber-reinforced parts for automotive applications. More metal can be replaced only through use of lightweight yet strong composite materials and parts, and in this way - regardless of the propulsion system in the vehicle - reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions even further.


Via its broad product portfolio, BASF is able to investigate three different plastic matrix systems simultaneously and intends to develop tailor-made formulations in close cooperation with customers. "We can build here on BASF's know-how in the areas of epoxy, polyurethane and polyamide chemistry, want to exploit the synergies in the team and will be making a double-digit million euro investment in development in the coming years", explained Willy Hoven-Nievelstein, BASF's head of the Engineering Plastics Europe business unit.


MRC