Kuwait-based EQUATE ramped up its high density polyethylene production

(ICIS) -- Kuwait-based EQUATE has ramped up its high density polyethylene (HDPE) production last week after restarting its 850,000 tonne/year HDPE/linear low density PE (LLDPE) swing plant at the end of October, a source close to the company said on Monday. The exact date of the restart is not available.

The plant, located at Shuaiba, was shut for a few days at the end of October because of technical problems, the source said. However, after the plant was restarted, it continued to face technical issues which kept the operating rate low, the source added.

The plant was producing LLDPE from 15 August until the shutdown. There are no details on the exact operating rate. EQUATE officials could not be reached for comment.

Perspectives of development of the polymers markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit is organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.

MRC

(ICIS) -- UK-based Vitafoam had no immediate comments late on Friday regarding a proposal to pay up to $15m (┬11m) to settle allegations that the company fixed prices on polyurethane (PU) flexible foam.

Under the proposal, Vitafoam would pay $9m with a possibility of paying up to $6m more, for a total worth up to $15m, according to court documents. In addition, Vitafoam offered to cooperate with the polyurethane-foam customers in their lawsuit against other producers. In proposing the settlement, Vitafoam denied all allegations that it has done anything wrong. The proposal still needs to be approved by the court.

Vitafoam is among several polyurethane producers accused of fixing prices. Others include Carpenter, Flexible Foam Products, Future Foam, FXI - Foamex Innovations, Hickory Springs Manufacturing, Inoac, Leggett & Platt, Mohawk Industries, Otto Bock Polyurethane Technologies, Plastomer, Scottdel, Valle Foam and the Woodbridge Group. Leggett & Platt and Otto Bock have both denied the allegations. In the lawsuit, the foam buyers allege that the producers had been fixing prices since at least 1 January 1999. As a result, the buyers said they had paid too much for foam as the market was no longer competitive.

Perspectives of development of the polymers markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will
be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit is organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Naphtha spot prices in Asia are likely to move sideways this week because of weak demand, ample supply from Indian refiners and negative petrochemical margins, traders said on Monday. The open spec Asian naphtha contract for the first half of January fell by $11/tonne (┬8/tonne) from Friday to $857.00-860.00/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Japan on Monday, ICIS data showed.

The naphtha crack spread versus January Brent crude futures was assessed at $52.68/tonne on Friday, down from $36.75/tonne in the previous week.

The crack spread narrowed from $57.05/tonne on Thursday, which was the highest since 1 November because of the strength in Europe naphtha prices then which in turn was underpinned by firm gasoline prices.

⌠The (naphtha) market does not have strength. In fact, it is limping, said one trader.
The spread between the naphtha contracts for the first half of January and the first half of February was assessed unchanged at parity on Friday, ICIS data showed.

Perspectives of development of the polymers markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit is organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- AkzoNobel announced its intention to invest EUR45 mln in a new Dicumyl Peroxide (DCP) plant at its Ningbo multi-site in China to meet a growing local, regional and global demand. Widely used as cross-linking agent for various polymers and copolymers, DCP can be found in a variety of products like shoe soles, cable insulation and construction insulation. The new facility will expand AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals' DCP production capacity by over 30% to 25,000 metric tons and allow for future expansion as the market continues grow. Expected to be completed by mid-2014, it will be the fifth plant built on the multi-site and benefit from the shared infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities.

Perspectives of development of the polymers markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit is organized by MRC and supported by ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.

MRC

(ICIS-MRC) -- The Polymers Summit-2011 will be held on November 30, 2011 in The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow. The Summit is organized by MRC and supported by ICIS. Among the speakers of the Polymers Summit-2011 will be Linda Naylor (ICIS), Geert Drummen (SABIC), Myron Gorilovskiy (POLYPLASTIC Group), Vasiliy Tkachev (TekhnoNIKOL), Sergey Yaremenko (MRC), Sergey Arbuzov (Europlastic), Sergey Komyshan (Sibur), Pavel Lyakhovich (Sibur), Alexey Zavyalov (CENTROPOLYMER).

The main idea of the Summit is to find "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in the expansion of production in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of the feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products.

The Polymers Summit is not another boring conference, it is an interactive communication. After a free registration on a site, each participant can arrange the subject of the reports and invite colleagues for a talk or for a meeting. The Summit site gives an access to the live video from the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit participants.

MRC