LyondellBasell will keep US BD on allocation in December

(ICIS) -- LyondellBasell plans to keep US butadiene (BD) on allocation in December amid continued strong demand for the product, the company said on Friday in a letter sent to customers. The restriction was set at 85%, compared with 90% in November.

LyondellBasell last week rescinded its force majeure (FM) on BD, which had been in place since 18 May following mechanical problems at its Channelview extraction unit in Texas. The company said those problems were corrected during planned maintenance in October.

But LyondellBasell said BD demand for December was well above historical norms, adding that for that reason it was unable to meet 100% of its customers' needs. The company also has two steam crackers in Channelview, each with 873,000 tonnes/year of capacity.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Polyethylene (PE) buyers in Europe have been unable to obtain lower prices from producers in November as a result of smaller-than-expected amounts of imported material amid lacklustre demand and a flat market, sources said on Friday.

PE buyers had faced price increases of around ┬30/tonne in November, an amount that would cover the ┬28/tonne increase in the monthly ethylene contract price, which now stood at ┬978/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

Buyers of low density polyethylene (LDPE) were under even more pressure, as producers aim to raise prices next month. On 18 November, Dow Chemical announced a ┬70/tonne increase for December PE. The US-based chemical major was making it clear that it was looking to cover what it saw as its increased costs in PE.

Producers of LDPE and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) reported strong demand this month, and Dow said that it had already closed its order books for November.

MRC

(Korea JoongAng Daily) -- Honam Petrochemical, an affiliate of the Lotte Group, decided on Nov.19 to set foot in the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film business as a part of its expansion strategy in the performance material business.

Honam said it will build a production facility within KP Chemical's site in Ulsan, which will be able to annually produce of 20,000 tons by 2012 and 40,000 tons by 2014.

Because Honam is the leading polyethylene producer in the Asian region and is ranked second in Asia for ethylene and polypropylene productions, its entry into the PET film industry will be a positive entry for its future task of becoming a ⌠total solution provider, but not so easy considering other competitors making a name in the market.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Bayer plans to reduce its workforce by 2,000 by 2012 as part of an ┬800m/year ($1.1bn/year) cost-cutting programme, the chief executive of the German pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals producer said on Thursday.

The programme aims to shift the company's focus toward researching, developing and marketing new products in its pharmaceuticals and pesticides businesses, as well as expanding activities in emerging markets, Bayer said.

Bayer said about 4,500 positions - including 1,700 in Germany - would be cut, while 2,500 new jobs would be added, mostly in emerging markets. The company did not specify from which units that jobs would be cut.

The ┬800m/year in savings would be realised beginning in 2013.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- The average operating rate of U.S. chlorine and caustic soda makers, which include Dow Chemical Co., dropped to 80 percent in October, a trade group said.

The industry's average operating rate for plants that make the chemicals known as chlor-alkali fell from 91 percent in September, The Chlorine Institute, based in Arlington, Virginia, said today in an e-mail. Plants on average ran at 79 percent of capacity in October 2009.

Chlorine is used to make vinyl products such as siding and PVC pipe. Caustic soda, produced in tandem with chlorine, is used to make pulp, paper and soap.

MRC