Non-biodegradable PE bags are banned in Italy

(Plasteurope) -- A year after Italy became the first European country to ban non-biodegradable PE bags. Regulations as to the permitted levels of degradability are still controversial. As retailers were permitted to use up their stocks of non-biodegradable bags up to the end of 2011, the switch evidently is not yet visible. But with former EU commissioner Mario Monti now in the prime minister's seat, it appears that attempts by plastics industry groupings to torpedo the legislation have definitely failed.

For its own purposes, Italy will adopt the EU degradability standard EN 13432, part of the European Packaging Directive EC 94/62. This specifies, among other things, that the material must break down by at least 90% in less than six months. Some bag manufacturers and organisations are critical. Part of the trade union sector complains that the legislation will lead to many job losses, while others argue that it will benefit plans to set up a ⌠green plastics hub at the former Vinyls Italia site of Porto Torres in Sardinia . Plastics converters who produce bags contend that the cost of retooling equipment will be prohibitive.


In mid-January, environmental organisations called on the European Commission (EC) to finally move toward regulating plastic bags. The high level of support shown by EU private citizens for such a move - 53% participating in an EU query strongly favoured an outright ban - ⌠means that the Commission will be under pressure to take action, the organisations said in a statement.


MRC

Sabic resumed its PE and PP production at Al-Jubail

(CHEMMONITOR) -- Several production units engaged in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) production recommenced their activity at Al-Jubail (Saudi Arabia) last week. The facilities belong to SABIC, a domestic maker.


The plants were idle for 2 days on the back of the power outage at the locality.


The company does not estimate its production losses as large ones.


The accident affected also others PE and PP manufacturer running plants at the site. They were forced to suspend operations, as well.


MRC

Petroplus filed for insolvency

(petroplusholdings) -- Petroplus Holdings AG on Wednesday announced that it and its
subsidiary in Switzerland and Germany filed for insolvency proceedings.

Petroplus further announced that its subsidiaries in France filed for rehabilitation proceedings (⌠redressement judiciaire).


The Court appointed FHB Administrateurs Judiciaires as administrator for the assets of some of the above companies.
Petroplus Holdings AG will provide further updates to the public as needed and further information regarding the proceedings will be provided at its website.

MRC

Polish ORLEN signed agreement with Shell for crude oil deliveries

(orlen.pl) -- Polish PKN ORLEN informs that on 23 January 2012 it signed a spot agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited, London, Great Britain (└STASCO), for crude oil deliveries to AB ORLEN Lietuva . The estimated net value of the agreement amounts to approximately USD 80 million.

The total estimated value of agreements signed between PKN ORLEN and STASCO in the period from 2 September 2011 to 23 January 2012 amounts to approximately USD 634 million.


Agreement dated 5 October 2011 is the agreement with the highest amount from among all agreements concluded between PKN ORLEN and STASCO in the period from 2 September 2011 to 23 January 2012. The estimated value of the agreement amounts to approximately USD 81 million. The agreement was concluded for crude oil deliveries to ORLEN Lietuva.

MRC

In Russia PVC-S market in 2011 exceeded 1 mln tons

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In 2011, the Russian market of suspension PVC (PVC-S) exceeded the psychological point of 1 million tons. However, last year was quite difficult for the market, according to MRC analysts.


In 2011, the Russian market of PVC-S grew by 15% year on year and reached 1.014 million tonnes. This is a psychological threshold and a historical moment for the Russian market. Russia's PVC-S market growth exceeded the whole Central Europe index. Such a serious increase in the last year demand was provided by the producers of PVC profiles and soft compounds.


Since 2006, the Russian market of PVC-S had become a pure net importer. From 2002 till 2008 the demand for suspension in the local market grew on average by 31% per year. The growing needs were satisfied by imports of resins from China, the USA and Europe. In 2008, the global financial recession resulted in a serious reduction of construction volumes. As a consequence, the Russian market in the recessional 2009 declined by almost a quarter and made 657 thousand tonnes, while in 2008 this figure was about 859 thousand tonnes.


Deferred demand in 2009 and economic recovery after the recession in 2010 led to a serious increase in demand for PVC in the Russian market. In 2010, the market of suspension grew by 34% and exceeded the level of the recessional 2008 - 879 thousand tonnes. The Russian converters have begun to invest in increasing capacity and build quite optimistic plans for 2011.


Conveters' optimistic forecasts, the dependence on external supplies, as well as dynamic growth of PVC quotations in the external markets, particularly in the U.S., made many participants contract foreign resin more than enough at the beginning of the year. From January till June inclusive, the imports of suspension PVC to the Russian market grew more than twice.


The moderate growth in demand for finished products made of PVC in 2011 vs. 2010 and imports oversupply in August led to a serious surplus in the Russian market. Local producers competing with the imports declined domestic prices considerably. Since September imports volume began decreasing gradually and in December amounted to little more than 24 thousand tons.


Last year the Russian producers increased their output of PVC-S by 5% to 554 thousand tonnes. The main increase in production was provided by Caustic (Sterlitamak), due to the facilities upgrade in 2009.

In 2012, production is not expected to grow significantly as the Russian capacities are 100% loaded, the growing demand will still be met by imports.


The imports of PVC-S in 2011 grew by 30% and made 460 thousand tonnes. Over last year, the North American producers had become one of the key players in the Russian market. The U.S. export prices to a large extent determine the pricing in the Russian market. In general, last year the supply from the U.S. increased by 63% to 241.8 thousand tonnes. The volume of imports of Chinese acetylene PVC actually stayed at the level of 2010.


In June, a new market player appeared in the Russian market - Karpatneftekhim (Lukoil Group). Over less than seven months, the company delivered about 32 thousand tonnes to Russia. This year Karpatneftekhim can seriously put competitive pressure on the producers from the United States and China.

MRC