PE supplies from Iran may be disrupted after the US imposed new sanctions

(ICIS) -- Major Chinese importers are seeking alternative sources of polyethylene (PE) resins as supply from Iran may be disrupted after the US imposed new sanctions on the Middle Eastern country over its nuclear programme, industry sources said on Tuesday.

⌠We have to find alternatives to our [Iranian] suppliers. It is forbidden for China to export [product] to Iran because of the sanctions. Sooner or later, Iran will be forbidden to export [product] into China, said an eastern China-based importer. A sizeable chunk of China's PE imports is at risk because of growing international pressure to isolate Iran.

In the first nine months of 2011, Iran exported 228,780 tonnes of low density polyethylene (LDPE) film and 305,000 tonnes of all high density polyethylene (HDPE) grades to China. Iran's LDPE supply accounted for 21.4% of China's total imports of the material, while the HDPE supply has a 12.0% share to total imports of the polymer for the period, China Customs data showed.

The impact on supply will be most felt on the HDPE injection and blow moulding grades given that there are few such suppliers in the market, said a second Chinese importer. ⌠LDPE film supply is currently still outstripping the demand, so even if Iranian goods are out of the picture, the supply availability will still meet the demand, the importer added.

A third Chinese importer said it has reduced its monthly LDPE film import volumes from Iran by more than half this year from 15,000 tonnes/month in 2010, and is likely to cut import volumes further in 2012.


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-MRC) -- A member of the Board of Directors of Alta Profile Sergey Teteryuk and General manager of Alta Profile Valeriy Kulesh confirmed their participation at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held on November 30, 2011 in The Ritz-Carlton Moscow. The Summit is organized by MRC (Market Report) and supported by ICIS.

The main idea of the Summit is to find a "golden mean" between producers and converters. When the margin of producers could help them to invest in the expansion of production to replace imports of polymers, and converters could have the price of feedstock materials to be able to compete with imported finished products.

Among others, the Summit participants will focus on pricing issues in the polymers marekt, current situation in the markets of PET, PVC, the surplus of PP, the cost-effective use of resources. The Summit program is formed interactively on the basis of the questions to the speakers. The reports will be short, the speakers will mostly focus on communicating with colleagues. It is possible to ask questions, to appoint or postpone meetings with colleagues on the site of the Summit. The registration on a site is free. At the moment there are 159 registered users of the site, who represent major Russian and foreign petrochemical companies.

MRC

(MRC) -- General Director of SABIC Europe Geert Drummen, Regional Manager of SABIC Europe Olga Anisimova and Sales Manager (SABIC) Mikhail Fedulov confirmed their participation at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held on November 30, 2011 in The Ritz-Carlton Moscow. The Summit is organized by MRC (Market Report) and supported by ICIS.

Among others, the Summit participants will focus on pricing issues in the polymers marekt, current situation in the markets of PET, PVC, the surplus of PP, the cost-effective use of resources. The Summit program is formed interactively on the basis of the questions to the speakers. The reports will be short, the speakers will mostly focus on communicating with colleagues. It is possible to ask questions, to appoint or postpone meetings with colleagues on the site of the Summit. The registration on a site is free. At the moment there are 159 registered users of the site, who represent major Russian and foreign petrochemical companies.

MRC

(PlasticsToday) -- Last quarter of 2011 has seen phase-two expansion of Evonik's PMMA plant in Shanghai completed and put online, thereby doubling the supplier's regional manufacturing capacity for molding compounds made of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to around 40,000 tonnes per annum. This latest expansion of the PMMA plant also makes accommodations for growing demand in Europe as it helps to better secure supply availability of Plexiglas molding compounds for customers outside of Asia.

Evonik (Essen, Germany) sells PMMA molding compounds under the Plexiglas brand name. It supplies an extensive range of the compounds to a variety of industries, among them automotive and electronics manufactures and the lighting industry.

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) -- Weak demand and aggressive offers in the spot market are pulling down European acrylate prices as the year draws to a close, sources said on Monday.

A ┬55/tonne ($74/tonne) reduction for feedstock propylene in November added some downward pressure to the market, but players largely agreed that the key factor is the combination of current downstream bearishness with low spot numbers.

⌠It is the distribution side of the business that is bringing the price levels down, said one producer. ⌠There are a lot of sources in the market now that we have not seen in the last 18 months. While it is usually competitively priced material from Asia that makes its way into Europe, both buyers and sellers confirmed that material from Russia was currently the key driver behind the lower numbers.

Other players felt that a generally bearish sentiment amongst traders was forcing them to destock, which was in turn leading to lower prices, in particular for ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate. ⌠Spot numbers are disastrous right now, said another European supplier, adding that this was leading to a wide range of November contract prices.

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