India and China skirt Iran sunctions with "Junk for Oil"

(polyestertime) -- Iran and its leading oil buyers, China and India, are finding ways to skirt U.S. and European Union financial sanctions on the Islamic republic by agreeing to trade oil for local currencies and goods including wheat,
soybean meal and consumer products.

India, the second-biggest importer of Iran's oil, has set up a rupee account at a state-owned bank to settle as
much as much as 45 percent of its bill, according to Indian officials.

China, Iran's largest oil customer, already settles some of its oil debts through barter, Mahmoud Bahmani, Iran's central bank governor, said Feb. 28. Iran also has sought to trade oil for wheat from Pakistan and Russia, according to media reports from the two countries.
MRC

(plasticker) -- Owing to continued steep rises in energy and raw material costs, from April 1, 2012, Perlon-Monofil GmbH is to raise its prices worldwide for synthetic monofilaments by at least EUR 0.20 per kilogram depending on the field of application and grade.

Perlon-Monofil GmbH is one of five sections belonging to the Semi-Crystalline Products (SCP) business unit of specialty chemicals group Lanxess. It manufactures an extensive range of polyamide and polyester monofilament products for a wide variety of applications, and markets them worldwide under the brand names Perlon, Atlas and Bayco.

The plastic wires are used for the production of durable technical fabrics, cords and ropes with outstanding dimensional stability and high strength. Typical applications include rope manufacture, sports fishing, the paper and sports goods industries, and fences, bracings and guy ropes in agriculture. Products from Perlon-Monofil are noted for their weather resistance, strength, elongation properties, load-bearing capacity and overall resistance properties.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Polymer demand in Thailand, which has been stronger than demand in other Southeast Asian countries for most of the last two months, is beginning cool down following several consecutive local price hikes and with the approach of the Thai New Year holidays next month.

Many distributors report that they are feeling cautious about replenishing their stocks for now given their uncertainty as to how demand will be affected by the upcoming holidays while some converters report that they are starting to feel more comfortable with their stocks these days and are accordingly feeling less pressure to source additional cargoes.

In the PP market, an increasing number of players are beginning to describe demand as normal while several distributors are already shifting their focus towards late April and the period after the Thai New Year holidays. ⌠Prices are stable this week and demand for our end products is normal, reported a converter in the plastic bag sector. Another plastic bag manufacturer stated, ⌠Local prices remain at high levels these days.

We are not planning to make any fresh purchases for now as we are feeling more comfortable with our stocks after pursuing an active purchasing strategy for the past few months. A distributor reported that they are taking a less active part in the market for now while waiting to gauge market sentiment after the holidays.
MRC

(plastemart) -- China's leading oil, energy and petrochemical group Sinopec posted sales of RMB 2.5 tr (EUR 280 bln) in FY 2011.

Its Chemicals business - mostly consisting of olefins and polyolefins - accounting for less than 20% of total revenues to the tune of about RMB 414 bln (EUR 46 bln). Mirroring the group's overall development, this segment managed to raise sales by 29% yoy, posting an operative result of more than RMB 25 bln (EUR 2.8 bln), which topped the 2010 figure by an impressive 71%.

Sinopec produced and sold about 27.3 mln tons of base petrochemicals in 2011, a yoy rise of 17%. Ethylene accounted for 9.9 mln tons, a 9.2% production increase over 2010. This figure includes the output of all of Sinopec's joint ventures as well. The group's nominal C2 capacities amount to about 7.9 mln tons, making it the world's third largest ethylene producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) - A tighten supply of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the Russian market and the oncoming stops for scheduled turnaround continue to push the prices up. Next week the prices are expected to rise further, according to a ICIS-MRC Price report.

In mid-March Russian producers announced an increase in contract prices of LDPE in the domestic market under pressure from rising oil prices. This week the spot prices of low-density polyethylene in Russia increased on the back of growth in demand, scheduled stops on turnaround, and traffic difficulties as a result of spring floods.

Kazanorgsintez, Russia's largest producer, plans to stop its capacity of LDPE on a scheduled turnaround for a month on April 14. As a result, the company substantially limited the quotas for the supply of polyethylene to the domestic market in April. Ufaorgsintez plans to stop the capacities on scheduled turnaround in early May. At the same time in March, because of a lack of ethylene, the capacities of high-pressure polyethylene in Ufa are loaded on average by 80%. There are disruptions in the supply of PE to the domestic market.

From the mid-April the traffic of freight transport will be limited, which affects the cost of delivery of polyethylene and can cause disruptions in the supply.

This week all these factors influence the spot market of polyethylene in Russia. The price quotations of 158-LDPE reached Rb59,000-61,500/tonne, including VAT, CPT Moscow. The material for the production of shrinkable film is offerred on average for Rb60,000-63,000/tonne, including VAT, CPT Moscow. The price spread is fairly big in the market. The market is in anticipation of April, the new prices from producers and trafic difficulties.


MRC