LONDON (ICIS) -- Al-Waha Petrochemical's polypropylene (PP) unit in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, is due to restart production in the week commencing 18 October, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.
The company was forced to halt operations at the 450,000 tonne/year facility due to an undisclosed technical problem, although it was unclear whether this issue had been resolved or was the cause of the current closure.
(Plastemart) -- Brazilian Braskem A.S. hiked October polyethylene and polypropylene offer for the Brazilian domestic market at an increase of by Reals 200/mt, over September, as per Platts.
Resin demand in the Brazilian domestic market is robust as historically September and October are strong demand months, when buying is at its peak for the end of the year festivities.
LDPE has not remained unchanged for October as September offers were increased by Reals 500/mt. October PP offers for Brazil's domestic market were heard at Real 4,200-4,300/mt FOT for homo raffia and injection, Reals 4,300-4,400/mt FOT for homo film and at Reals 4,400-4,500/mt FOT for co-polymer.
HDPE offers were at Reals 4,150-4,250/mt FOT for blowmolding, film and injection, Reals 4,450-4,550/mt FOT for LDPE film.
Polypropylene and LDPE continue to be short in Latin American markets causing buyers to worry about an even tighter situation when the Braskem's 40 day steam cracker maintenance begins November 4. Along with the cracker the company's 250,000 tpa LDPE and 250,000 tpa HDPE plants will also be shutdown.
(China Plastic & Rubber Journal) -- Total Petrochemicals, one of the world's leading petrochemicals companies, has decided to expand the capacity of its polystyrene plant in Foshan located in the Guangdong Province of China.
The project is scheduled to be on-stream by the end of 2010 and will bring the capacity of the Foshan plant to over 200,000 ton per year.
The new capacity will enable an almost doubling of sales compared with 2008 levels. The project will reinforce Total Petrochemicals' commercial position within the fast growing Chinese markets, especially the high-end segments in the South and Central China.
Total Petrochemicals supplies polystyrene to various markets: the packaging, television, audiovisual, refrigerators, office automation, etc.
MRC
(Plastics News) -- Bonset Latin America SA, a subsidiary of Bonset America Corp, is building a new film plant near Montevideo, Uruguay.
According to an Oct. 11 news release from Bonset of Browns Summit, N.C., the Uruguayan facility will be geared toward production of high-quality heat shrinkable films.
Bonset is a subsidiary of C.I. Kasei Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based film manufacturer. Bonset is a leading supplier of co-polyester shrink film in North America, and it acquired Mitsubishi's Fusion co-polyester heat shrinkable film business on Jan. 29.
Bonset also supplies PVC, glycol-modified PET and oriented polystyrene shrink film.
HOUSTON (ICIS) -- Petrobras Energia increased Argentine polystyrene (PS) prices by an average of 3% this month amid higher feedstock costs and growing regional demand, a company source said on Tuesday.
With the increase, general purpose PS (GPPS) prices were in the range of $1,909-2,023/tonne (┬1,374-1,457/tonne) delivered (DEL), while high impact PS (HIPS) grade was at $2,023-2,162/tonne DEL, based on ICIS data.
The market in Argentina was active with increased seasonal demand brought by higher temperatures. There was also a rush to build inventories ahead of year-end activities.
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