BASF and Bayer to invest in PUR businesses

(PlasticsToday) -- Two of the world's largest players in the polyurethane market announced investments in their respective businesses to start the week, with Bayer releasing news of a euro 5 million investment in a new technical center for the development of isocyanate production processes on Jan. 16, and BASF broadcasting plans to build a single-train 300,000 tonnes/yr production plant for TDI (toluene diisocyanate) in Germany a day later.

BASF's plans entail a total investment of about EUR1 billion and the creation of around 200 additional jobs in Ludwigshafen. The company will construct a new hydrogen chloride recycling plant and expand existing nitric acid, chlorine, and synthesis gas plants. BASF said it also plans to expand the aromatics complex at the site to boost the supply of toluene.

Production is to start at the end of 2014, and will result in the shuttering of its 80,000 tonnes/yr TDI production plant in Schwarzheide, Germany. Following the investment, BASF's PUR precursor business will revolve around two sites: Ludwigshafen for the production of TDI and Antwerp for the production of MDI (diphenylmethane diisocyanate) and propylene oxide.

Bayer MaterialScience, meanwhile, has commissioned a new hydrogenation technical center at its Chempark Dormagen site, saying the euro 5 million investment will allow it to pool its research activities for the efficient production of PUR precursors MDI and TDI.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co said it shut a naphtha cracking facility at its Tokuyama plant in western Japan on Tuesday night after an unspecified problem.

The company has been making repairs and expects it to resume operations in a few days, a spokesman said.

The Tokuyama plant has two naphtha crackers with total capacity of 623,000 tonnes per year of ethylene, but the spokesman could not immediately confirm if both crackers had been shut.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Methyl acrylate (methyl-A) prices in Southeast Asia look poised to hit a 24-month low on the back of a supply overhang and weak demand, regional producers and traders said on Wednesday. A regional trader said on Wednesday it is offering iso-containers of methyl-A at USD1,750/tonne (EUR1,383/tonne) CIF (cost, insurance & freight) southeast (SE) Asia. This is a USD100-150/tonne drop from methyl-A prices on 11 January, when methyl-A was assessed at USD1,850-1,900/tonne CIF SE Asia.

The last time that methyl-A sank below USD1,750/tonne CIF SE Asia was on 24 February 2010, when methyl-A was assessed at USD1,650-1,750/tonne CIF SE Asia, ICIS data showed.

⌠It has been extremely difficult to conclude methyl-A deals over the last few months, as buyers have been using a cheaper alternative, vinyl acetate monomer [VAM], in place of methyl-A, said the trader. Other regional producers are also grappling with the issue of buyers turning to lower-priced substitutes.

A regional producer said that it was unable to sell a single parcel of methyl-A into southeast Asia since end-November.
⌠There are practically no methyl-A enquiries from southeast Asia at all, the producer lamented.

VAM was assessed at USD980-1,020/tonne CFR (cost & freight) SE Asia on 13 January, ICIS data showed.

Commenting on the outlook for methyl-A for the rest of the first quarter, regional producers and traders said they are not optimistic. ⌠Even after the Lunar New Year holiday this month, I believe that producers will still have difficulties persuading their customers to purchase methyl-A over VAM, said a second regional trader. Methyl-A is used in the production of acrylic fibres and as a resin modifier.

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SABIC's income from operations for the fourth quarter dropped by 5% year on year to SR9.51bn.

⌠The decrease in net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 compared to the same period in the preceding year and third quarter of 2011 is mainly driven by lower pricing environment in global markets for most of the products, despite increase in sales volumes, it said.

The company's net income for the 12 months ended 31 December 2011 increased by 36% to SR29.21bn, compared with the same period a year before. ⌠The increase in net income for the twelve months period ended December 31, 2011 compared to the same period in 2010 is attributable to the increase in production and sales volumes and higher product prices, SABIC said.
The company added that its income from operations for the whole of 2011 rose 29% year on year to SR48.8bn.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Asia's benzene prices hit a five-month high on Wednesday, tracking gains in US prices as crude values spiked overnight, market players said. Spot prices rose USD30/tonne (EUR24/tonne) at USD1,195-1,205/tonne (EUR944-952/tonne) FOB (free on board) Korea early on Wednesday, the first time that USD1,200/tonne level was breached since early August, according to ICIS data.

US crude was trading at above USD101/bbl on Wednesday, after rising by more than USD2/bbl overnight. A March-loading cargo was concluded at USD1,200/tonne FOB Korea, while an April shipment was done at USD1,198/tonne FOB Korea, market sources said. Offers for March-loading shipments were heard at USD1,205-1,210/tonne FOB Korea that met bids at USD1,185-1,198/tonne FOB Korea.

Boosting the market sentiment in Asia were the gains in US benzene values for prompt January lots to USD4.13-4.17/gal, or USD1,235-1,246/tonne FOB Barges, on Tuesday. But this price upturn in the US could just have resulted from pure market play and not backed by fundamentals, traders said.


Benzene supply in Asia is tight in the first quarter due to a slew of plant turnarounds and unplanned shutdowns in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, said traders. This was another key factor pushing up prices in recent weeks, they added.

MRC