MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of polyethylene (PE) in Russia decreased by 1% in the first quarter of this year. The decrease in PE production occurred for high density polyethylene (HDPE), according to MRC ScanPlast.
Russia's PE production was 132,600 tonnes in March, compared with 141,100 tonnes in February. Total PE production in Russia was about 430,800 tonnes in Q1 2014, compared with 434,000 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
Russia's output of HDPE was significantly reduced, particularly in March, while the production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) grew. The structure of PE production in Russia in the first quarter of the current year was as follows.
Stavrolen shut ethylene production on 26 February because of the technical problems at its ethylene capacities. The company did not announce the date of the restart, but it is obvious that the production will be shut at least nine months, as it was in 2012.
Nizhnekamskneftekhim switched to the production of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in March. As a result, Russia's production of HDPE fell to 61,600 tonnes in March, compared with 86,200 tonnes in February. Total HDPE production in Russia was 245,200 tonnes in Q1 2014, compared with 264,700 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
March output of LDPE in Russia increased to 60,900 tonnes, compared with 55,000 tonnes in February. Total Russia's LDPE production was 175,500 tonnes in Q1 20014, up 4% from the same period a year earlier.
LLDPE production Russia remains weak. Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced about 10,000 tonnes of LLDPE over the incomplete March. Russia did not produce LLDPE in January and February, as it was in the same period in 2013.
MRC