Two units at Pont-de-Claix Site (France) brought on stream after shutdown

(chemmonitor) -- The Perstorp-headquartered (Sweden) company Perstorp restarted its toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) and chlor-alkali plants at Pont-de-Claix site (France) last week at the weekends. The producer is increasing the manufacturing rates of the facilities.

Perstorp's chlor-alkali plant was brought off stream in early February on the back of the strike, what influenced the TDI unit.

A force majeure declaration, which came into effect in early February for both TDI and chloralkali products at the site, is expected to remain in place until the end of the month, with a strict allocation likely to be implemented in March.

On 4 February, Perstorp was forced to stop production at its chlor-alkali unit because of the strike and this affected its downstream TDI facility. This resulted in force majeure declarations for both products.

Perstorp's nameplate capacity at the site is 126,000 tonnes/year for TDI and 170,000 tonnes/year for chlorine, according to a company source.

MRC

(infonary) -- Indorama Ventures PCL (IVL.TH), an integrated polyester chain producer, said an indirectly owned subsidiary has acquired 51% of a packaging company in Northern Ireland.

Beacon Trading purchased the stake in Beverage Plastics (Holdings) Ltd., Indorama Ventures said in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand without elaborating.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited is one of the largest vertically integrated polyester chain producers in the world and a leading global manufacturer of wool yarns. Indorama Ventures is the largest PET producer globally, as well as in the U.S.A and Europe regions. Indorama Ventures is a world scale manufacturer of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a key raw material for the production of polyester.

MRC

(plastemart) -- In a bid to gain better access to raw materials and technologies, Taiwan's state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. will enter into a strategic alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. Hwang Dang-hsiang, the head of CPC Corp.'s Petrochemical Business Division, and Tatsuya Kiyoshi, Mitsubishi's senior vice president, signed a letter of intent to form the alliance on behalf of their companies.

The alliance will give CPC an overseas research and development partner for the first time. CPC also hopes to be able to obtain raw materials and patented technologies through Mitsubishi's global trade network to support a plan to tap into the downstream side of the petrochemical business. Also, the two companies intend to step up their exchange of information on market conditions and trends in petrochemical product development.

MRC

(nctww) -- This month, European PP, PE and PS suppliers were able to pass their initial hike targets for the most part, which were in excess of the rise in the February monomer contract prices. Restricted supplies on the producers' side, along with strong upstream costs, which continued to rise this month, helped sellers have an upper hand in negotiations during the month.

Feedstock costs remain firm and spot monomer prices are standing at noticeably higher levels compared to the start of February, signaling a renewed upward rally in March.

Although there is active buying interest from buyers, many sellers are reluctant to give offers for high volumes these days, claiming to have restricted quantities. According to buyers' reports, some suppliers are refusing to give additional volumes while some are asking for further price hikes on top of their initial February prices.

⌠Suppliers are implementing further increases on their prices due to widespread expectations of new price hikes in March. Last week we purchased only 1 cargo of additional PP quantities paying EUR40/ton higher prices compared to the beginning of the month. Supply is apparently tight because we were not able to get more than 1 cargo from the West European supplier, a compounder told.

⌠After concluding our PP agreements paying three-digit price hikes, we asked the producers for 200 tons extra, but the suppliers refused to sell these quantities, another converter producing food containers stated.MRC

(privateequitykorea) -- SK Group will be setting up a USD588 million joint venture with China's state oil firm Sinopec. The new venture will e led by unlisted SK subsidiary SK Global Chemical and will produce butanediol, a synthetic fiber precursor. The butanediol JV is a part of a Sinopec petrochemical complex in which BP is also participating. Last year SK also started another JV with Sinopec to produce ethylene.


China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group is a state-owned company solely invested by the State, functioning as a state-authorized investment organization in which the state holds the controlling share. Headquartered in Beijing, Sinopec Group has a registered capital of RMB 182 billion.
MRC