(arkema) -- Arkema announces an average price increase of EUR 70/mt on its oxygenated solvents portfolio effective on February 1st 2012. This rise is linked to propylene and derivatives price increase beginning of this year.
The main products concerned are Diacetone Alcohol (DA), MethylIsoButylKetone (MIBK), MethyIsoButylCarbinol (MIBC), Hexylene Glycol (HG) and Isophorone (IPHO).
These products are widely used in many industrial applications in fine chemistry as much as in formulation.
(ICIS) -- The European January styrene barge contract has been confirmed at EUR 1,214/tonne (EUR 1,577/tonne), up EUR120/tonne from the previous month, as the initial settlement received further support from players on Thursday.
One producer involved in the agreement said it had initially pushed for a larger increase this month in linewith raw material price rises, but conceded that the agreement was a compromise that reflected seasonally low demand in January.
Indeed, one downstream aromatics player had expected a much lower increase of around EUR 80-90/tonne this month.
Another seller said that the rise in raw material costs had to be passed on, but added that with demand not as high as expected this month, any larger increase might slow down consumption.
Wider economic uncertainty in the first quarter of 2012 also figured into discussions, said the seller.
(chemmonitor) -- In January Maoming Petrochemical Company Ltd., (China) intends to reduce linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) supply by 40 percent due to reduced production of the grade.
The company's annual production capacity at its full density polyethylene facility accounts for 200,000 tonnes, while the average monthly production of LLDPE film comes to about 10,000 tonnes.
In January Maoming Petrochemical's facility would produce 6,000 tonnes of LLDPE film to deliver to the market.
(chemmonitor) -- Formosa Plastics Corporation (Taiwan) schedules its polypropylene (PP) facility closure later in Jan 2012 due to weak PP demand. The facility is located in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China and has the annual production capacity of 450,000 tonnes.
Downstream demand is projected to fall down with the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays in Jan 22 - Jan 28 in China.
Formosa Plastics Corporation's 170,000 ton/year line at the facility is to be closed from Jan 19 to Jan 31.
Moscow (MRC) -- The first working week of the new year did not bring big changes in the Russian market of polyethylene. Price quotations stayed the same relatively with the last week of December, the only exception made pipe HDPE, according to MRC analysts.
The first working week of the new year gave no surprises for the Russian market of polyethylene. Price quotations of Russian polyethylene in the domestic market were left at rollover from the last week of December, the only exception made pipe HDPE.
Weak demand in the domestic market and sufficient supplies keep putting pressure on the prices of LDPE. Price offers of high-density polyethylene remained unchanged in comparison with the last week of December and by Wednesday they had been at Rb57.000-58.500/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow, for the 158-LDPE, and Rb58.500-59.500/tonne, including VAT, CPT Moscow, for the 153-LDPE.
The accident at Stavrolene in mid-December resulted in a slight increase in prices of Russian HDPE, but by the end of the year the situation in the Russian market had stabilized on the back of weak demand. Traditional weak demand in the beginning of the year and suficient supplies continue to hold prices steady. By the middle of the week, the price offers of film HDPE had been at Rb63,300-64.500/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow. By the beginning of next week, Kaazanorgsyntez and Nizhnekamskneftechem will have stopped the production of film polyethylene, however, this will not likely have caused any changes in the market by the end of the month due to the suficient supply of the material to the market.
Uncertainty about the terms of the resumption of production of blow molding HDPE in February by Kazanorgsyntez keeps prices at Rb65.000-66.500/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow. In late December, Gazprom neftechem Salavat resumed the production of injection molding HDPE. By the middle of next week, Kazanorgsyntez will have resumed deliveries of injection molding PE to the domestic market.
The price growth of coloured pipe HDPE in January was not a surprise for the Russian market. The prices of pipe PE had been heard to grow since mid-December. From January, 10th the price of Russian black PE80 and PE100 had been increased by Rb1,000/tonne, ex VAT. The demand for pipe material is weak, due to seasonal factors. Quite a lot of companies have stopped their facilities on turnaround due to lack of demand for ready-made pipes. The price quotation of black PE100 were at Rb62.000-63.000/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow.
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