China's Sanyuan to start up new PP line at Shaoxing by year end

(Platts) -- China's Zhejiang Shaoxing Sanyuan Petrochemical plans to start up its new polypropylene line at its plant at Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, at the end of this year, a company source said Thursday.


Sanyuan currently owns a 240,000 mt/year PP plant at Shaoxing and the new line, which has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year, would boost its total capacity to 540,000 mt/year.


The new line will produce mainly film grade PP, under the serial codes F280 and 730S, the source added. Sanyuan has yet to fix a date for the startup in December, as it is also dependent on market conditions, the source added.


The company imports all of its propylene feedstock requirements from the spot market, the source said. The company purchases a 1,500 mt propylene spot parcel once every two days, but after the new line is brought on stream, Sanyuan would need to buy a spot cargo every day.

MRC

Total calls force majeure on PP, PS, PE over French strikes

(ICIS) -- French petrochemicals producer Total has declared force majeure across all grades of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) as a result of the ongoing strike action in France, a company source said on Thursday.

The company was forced to call force majeure on 18 October as transportation of raw materials to facilities was proving difficult. As a result, production of all polyolefins had slowed considerably.

Looking forward, the situation was unclear in both the PP and PE markets. The Total source said: ⌠It is difficult to know what is going to happen because of the strike; it could be resolved tomorrow, it could continue for the rest of the month.

However, higher prices were envisaged for PS as availability looked set to be even tighter going into November.

MRC

Russia to sell Rosneft stock in $59 billion plan to cut deficit

(Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to sell as much as 15 percent of OAO Rosneft, its biggest oil producer, as the government seeks to raise 1.8 trillion rubles ($59 billion) in asset sales in the next five years to help balance the budget.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's government approved the plan to sell stakes in about 900 companies, including lenders OAO Sberbank and VTB Group, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said late yesterday.


The government will use some of the revenue to narrow its budget gap to 1.8 trillion rubles, or 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, in 2011 from an estimated 5.3 percent this year. Russia had a shortfall of 5.9 percent last year, its first deficit in a decade, after the economy posted its biggest contraction on record. Putin said Oct. 5 that the country will balance the budget by 2015.


The Finance Ministry in July proposed selling minority stakes in 10 companies, including Rosneft, Sberbank and VTB, as part of a three-year privatization plan.


MRC

EPS imports to the Russian market exceeded 15 KT in September

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In September EPS imports to Russia exceeded 15 KT, according to MRC DataScope.


During January-September 2010 72 KT of EPS were supplied to the Russian market which was 30% more compared to the same period last year. EPS import deliveries in September for the first time reached the volume of 15 KT which was 13,2% more compared to the previous month deliveries.


EPS deliveries to Russia are done mostly from China and South Korea whose share in total volume of deliveries for the nine months of 2010 made up 42,2% and 35,9% respectively. In September EPS deliveries from South Korea for the first time since May 2008 exceeded the level of 6 KT, having increased the deliveries volumes by 54,8% compared to August.

For more detailed information on the Russian polystyrene market, see DataScope Report.

MRC

Ethylene profit gains may end on China supplies

(Bloomberg) -- Profits from making ethylene may be capped in Asia next year after Chinese production jumped to the highest level in eight months.

The net return from producing ethylene by putting naphtha through a cracker is $150 a metric ton, according to Chemical Markets Associates Inc. It was $250 a ton in July, after a fire at Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s No.1 cracker in Taiwan reduced supplies. The profit may drop to $100 by January as new plants in Asia ramp up utilization rates.

China, the world's second-biggest crude consumer, is buying less ethylene as it boosts domestic production after a 42 percent jump in oil-refining capacity in five years. Manufacturers in South Korea and Taiwan count on China to buy 80 percent of their ethylene-based exports.

⌠There's still supply pressure from new crackers, said Suppata Srisuk, an analyst at Bualuang Securities Pcl. ⌠Most of the crackers in Korea and Japan will be the first group to shut down if the ethylene spread gets too low.

MRC