US carmakers in record China sales, despite market fall

(bbc) -- General Motors and Ford reported record car sales in China for 2011, despite a slowdown in the market in that country.

GM said sales of its vehicles and those of its Chinese partners rose 8.3% during the year to a record high of 2.5 million cars. Ford saw sales rise by 7% to 519,390 vehicles.

Car sales in China skyrocketed in 2010, in part due to government incentives, but have moderated in 2011.

The US carmakers have benefited from releasing a range of new models into the Chinese market. GM also expects growth in China this year to be better than in 2011, and plans to take more market share.

"We picked up considerable share in China in 2011 and we expect we'll do similarly in 2012 because we have a lot of launches," said Tim Lee, president of GM's international operations speaking to reporters at the Detroit motor show.

The company said its market share in China rose to 13.6% last year, up from 12.7% in 2010.

GM received a USD 50bn (?32bn) bailout from the US government in 2009, a time when other US carmakers were struggling as well.

But analysts said GM and others have since seen a resurgence, in part due to revenue from China.

However, it has been a tough year for Japanese car companies after the earthquake and tsunami in March, as well as the floods in Thailand, affected production.

Honda Motors on Monday reported its first ever annual decline in exports to China.

MRC

(zchpolice.pl) -- A Poland-based manufacturer, namely Zaklady Chemiczne Police (ZChP), has obtained potash on a contract basis from BPC (Belarus).

The material was estimated at USD 23.5 (EUR 18.4, PLN 82.86) million.

The product will be forwarded to its new proprietor by early April of this year.

The cargo is to be carried by sea on a ship.

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- Polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) markets in the Middle East will witness good margins due to firm values for a raw material this year. Meanwhile, PP and PE costs may be permanent with a tendency to decrease on the back of poor consumption.

In Saudi Arabia prices for ethane gas are stable. They are negotiated at USD 0.76 (EUR 0.61) per MMBtu. Values for Saudi propane gas demonstrate a downward surge.

PE producers will broaden the boarders of their resin market on profitable prices.

MRC

(ICIS) -- China's domestic low density polyethylene (LDPE) film supply decreased this week because of a shutdown at one plant and switching to another product by a second plant resulting in its prices to firm up, industry sources said on Friday.

China Maoming Petrochemical's 250,000tonne/year LDPE unit in Guangdong shut down on 11 January because of equipment failure. The company plans to restart it on 15 January.

On the other hand Yanshan Petrochemical's a 200,000tonne/year LDPE plant in Beijing switched to producing special material for the production of wire and cable insulation sheath on 4 January resulting in reduced supply of LDPE film in the domestic market.


The supply tightening has come at a time when many downstream manufacturers such as the film packaging industry are planning to purchase LDPE to shore up inventory ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays that start from 22 January.

As a result China's domestic LDPE film offering price rose by Chinese yuan CNY50-100/tonne (USD 8-16/tonne) to CNY10,600-11,000/tonne EXWH (ex-warehouse) on 13 January from CNY10,500-10,950/tonne EXWH on 11 January.

MRC

LONDON (ICIS) -- The initial European monoethylene glycol (MEG) contract for January has settled at EUR 1,024/tonne (USD 1,296/tonne), an increase of EUR 54/tonne, a producer said on Thursday.

⌠It is not good but it's not a disaster, a customer said.

The buyer involved in the settlement was not available for comment.

The contract was agreed on a free delivered (FD) northwest Europe (NWE) basis.


MRC