PP import to Russia slashed by 28%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PP import to the Russian market keep falling after June’s peak level. In September, the total PP import to Russia decreased to the level of 19,700 tonnes. Over the past nine months, PP exports to the Russian Federation made about 189,000 tonnes, according to MRC Datascope.

PP exports to the Russian market keep declining after the June’s record level of 34,300 tonnes. As per preliminary information, last month import of PP went down by 7,800 tonnes and made about 19,700 tonnes.

The gradual decline of PP imports is due to several factors. Firstly, the record import volumes in the summer months (about 89,000 tonnes in June-August) allowed converters, as well as traders, to form large stock inventories in the market. Secondly, August and September surge in PP prices made import material unprofitable for the local companies. The third and not the last factor is a serious reduction of PP exports (by 30% year-on-year) in favour of the domestic market.

In general, the total year-to-date PP import to the Russian Federation made about 189,000 tonnes, up 37% year-on-year.

MRC

(solvay) -- Solvay and Russian petrochemical company Sibur have signed an agreement to establish Ruspav, a 50/50 joint venture for the production of surfactants and oilfield process chemicals in Dzerzhinsk, Russia.

Ruspav will be located near SIBUR's petrochemicals operations, 400km east of Moscow, and is expected to be operational in 2015. Demand for surfactants in the CIS is growing at more than 6% annually. The surfactants are used mainly in home & personal care products, oil & gas as well as in other industries.

Sibur will contribute its raw materials, production and logistics capabilities to the joint venture. It will also, given its longstanding experience of the Russian petrochemicals market, support the development of the surfactants business in oil and gas markets in Russia and the CIS.

Sibur is the largest integrated petrochemical company in Russia, in the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe by revenues. The company purchases associated petroleum gas and liquid hydrocarbon feedstock from major Russian oil and gas companies and processes them into energy products, including liquefied petroleum gases, natural gas, and naphtha, and further into various petrochemical products, including basic polymers, synthetic rubbers, plastics, products of organic synthesis, intermediates, and other chemicals.

Solvay is an international chemical Group committed to sustainable development with a clear focus on markets such as consumer goods, construction, automotive, energy, water and environment, and electronics.

Solvay's technologies are also to be used at other Sibur's project - Rusvinil, where the production of PVC is planned to be launched by 2014.
MRC

(nctww) -- Exxon Mobil has announced plans to increase its petrochemical manufacturing output through the expansion of its Baton Rouge and Port Allen plants in Louisiana.

A company official said that the expansion project will begin by the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2014. The USD215 mln expansion project will take the company’s capital expenditures in Louisiana to over USD1 billion in three years. In view of the expected increase in jobs created by the expansion, the state of Louisiana will be providing a USD1.8 mln modernization tax credit to the company, payable over the next five years.

Products produced at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery include gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, aviation fuel, lubricating oils and waxes. In addition, products produced at the chemical plant , along with the resins finishing, polyolefins and plastics plants are used to make products you use everyday such as paint, adhesives, plastic milk cartons, auto parts, plastic films, synthetic rubber, diapers, lubricants and much more.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2 percent of the world's energy.
MRC

(anba) -- The Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) has issued a ruling which temporarily lowers the import tax on two products used by the Brazilian industry, so as to prevent an undersupply, effective from Oct., 5.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, to which the Camex is linked, the tax has been lowered from 16% to 2% on imports of biaxially oriented polypropylene film (Bopp), a material used in package manufacturing. The tax break will remain in effect for 180 days and the maximum quota is 960 tonnes.

Brazilian imports of the product amounted to USD72.3 million from January to August, as against USD73.5 million in the same period of 2011. Countries which ship the product to Brazil include the United Arab Emirates, which sold the equivalent of USD1.2 million in the first eight months of 2012, and USD3.7 million in the same period of last year.

The same ruling sets forth that the tax will be reduced from 14% to 2% on imports of machinery.

As per MRC wrote earlier, the world demand for biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films will continue to grow by an average of 6.6% per year to reach 8.3 million metric tonnes by 2016.


MRC

(Dow) -- The Dow Chemical Company today announced that an agreement is in place through which the company will market and sell the majority of products produced by Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), Dow’s joint venture with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).

Dow will help to bring Sadara's high-value performance plastics and specialty chemical products to market in growing regions, particularly geographies where Dow has market channels that enable customer growth.

Nearly half the products Sadara offers will be available in expanding Asia Pacific markets; while the majority of the remainder will be sold in other key countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and India. Sadara itself will take the lead in bringing its products to market in certain Middle Eastern nations, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dow will market and sell from several major product families produced by Sadara’s state-of-the-art world-scale operations. These products will be manufactured utilizing several of Dow’s industry-leading technologies, and made to Dow’s stringent quality specifications.

Sadara is constructing the complex, which will be comprised of 26 manufacturing units, and will possess flexible cracking capabilities and produce more than 3 million metric tons of high-value performance plastics and specialty chemical products.

Sadara’s first production units will come on-line in 2015, and all units are expected to be up and running in 2016. Within a few years of becoming fully operational, Sadara is projected to deliver annual revenues of approximately USD10 billion. As MRC wrote earlier, the US Export-Import Bank has approved a USD4.975bn direct loan to Sadara Chemical Company for construction of a petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia.

MRC