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MOSCOW (MRC) – September contract prices of ethylene grew by EUR125/tonne, but European makers are going to get a more significant price rise of PE, report MRC analysts.
On Friday, September contract prices of ethylene were agreed in Europe. Monomer for September shipments rose in value by EUR125/tonne from August. However, European makers intend to get a more serious increase in PE prices this month on the back of low margin and tightened supply.
Negotiations on September level of export PE prices for CIS countries have just begun, but European makers are already voicing their bold statements regarding price rise by EUR180-240/tonne. Price-offers for September HDPE shipments are voiced in the range of EUR1,350-1,400/tonne, FCA and those for butene LLDPE are voiced in the range of EUR1,380-1,440/tonne, FCA.
Many companies importing European PE are in a state of shock. Over the past two months PE prices have risen by more than EUR300/tonne, and for some grades the price rise reaches EUR450/tonne. Meantime, buyers of European PE are already in no position to have a major impact on pricing. Series of force majeure at the facilities in Europe, namely, at the production of pipe HDPE, aggravate the situation in the market.
MRC
European makers intend to significantly increase PE prices in September
Deficit of VCM is still acutely felt in Japanese market
MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) -- Tosoh Corp. has not still retun to production of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) at its No 2 facility with a capacity of 550,000 tpa in Japan since a fire broke out in November last year. Due to shortage of VCM supply by the parent company Tosoh, Tayio Vinyl's PVC units in Yokkaichi with a capacity of 310,000 tpa and in Osaka with a capacity of 150,000 tpa are operating at reduced capacity of 50-60% and 30-40%, respectively, at the moment.
Tosoh is also planning to shut down its 400,000 tpa No 3 VCM unit on September 1 for 40-days' turnaround.
Tosoh is a diversified global chemical company active in inorganic chemicals, petrochemicals and specialty products. It is organised in three groups; Petrochemical, Basic, and Specialty.
MRC
Outages at VCM units continue in Asian region
Taiwan’s VCM Corporation was also planning to shut its 382,000 tpa VCM unit for two weeks at the end of August.
Once the operations are resumed at these VCM units, there are more plants that are slated to go offline as Japan’s Tosoh and Tokuyama along with South Korea’s Hanwha are planning to go for new maintenance shutdowns in the October to November period.
MRC
Borealis PP pipe grade to use in a sewerage network in Czech Republic
(plasteurope) -- Pipe grade PP from chemicals producer Borealis was specified for a recently completed upgrade and enlargement of a sewerage network for bordering municipalities Ivancice and Oslavany in the Czech Republic. The project involved the replacement of 26 km of ageing concrete pipes and an extension of the waste water network to connect an additional 15% of households.
Borealis said the material allows pipe producers to manufacture heavy-duty pipes without mineral fillers and without additional investments in new production equipment, exceeding currently available stiffness. As a high molecular weight, low melt flow block copolymer, it runs very easily on existing pipe extrusion equipment. Borealis claims it is the only available material without mineral modifiers that achieves an e-modulus of 2000MPa while maintaining a good impact resistance.
Borealis AG is an international company in producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) solutions for the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging market sectors. Its plastics are converted by customers into products such as food packaging, medical devices, diapers, energy and communication cables, water and sanitation distribution pipes and automotive parts.
MRC
PetroChina completes construction of a new facility
(plastemart) -- PetroChina Daqing Petrochemical Co. completed construction of a unit at its plant in northeastern China and raised the annual crude-processing capacity to 10 million metric tons.
The project, with an investment of 1 billion yuan (USD157 million), involves adding a crude distillation unit with processing capacity of 6 million tonnes a year and will also help meet feedstock demand for a 1.2 mln tpa ethylene unit.
The expanded refinery is scheduled to start operations in October.
PetroChina Company the largest oil and gas producer and distributor, playing a dominant role in the oil and gas industry in China and also one of the largest oil companies in the world. PetroChina is one of the major producers and distributors of petroleum and petrochemical products in the world.
MRC