HDPE imports in Russia decreased by 13% in January - July 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to the Russian market fell by 13% in the first seven months of this year.
The greatest decrease in imports occurred for polyethylene film, according to MRC DataScope report.

Russia's HDPE imports seasonally increased to 30,600 tonnes in July. Total HDPE import in Russia decreased to 155,200 tonnes in January - July 2014, compared to 177,500 in the same time a year earlier. The greatest reduction occurred for film HDPE, while the imports of blow moulding and injection moulding polyethylene, on the contrary, increased.

Structure of HDPE imports in the country looked as follows.

Russia's imports of pipe HDPE exceeded 10,000 tonnes in July, compared with 8,400 tonnes in June on the back of the seasonal factor.
Russia's pipe HDPE imports totalled 42,600 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, up by 2% year on year.

Russia's imports of HDPE for extrusion coating of large-diameter pipes decreased almost twofold to 3,200 tonnes in July, compared with 6,100 tonnes in June. Total imports of HDPE for extrusion coating of large-diameter pipes in Russia were 35,700 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, down 20%.

July imports of injection moulding and blow moulding HDPE grew to 5,400 tonnes and 5,100 tonnes respectively. Russia's imports of injection moulding and blow moulding HDPE in the first seven months of the year totalled 29,300 tonnes and 24,400 tonnes, up 3% and 11%, respectively.

July imports of film HDPE in Russia on the the back of the shortage grew three times to 5,700 tonnes, from 1,900 tonnes in June. Total imports film HDPE in Russia were 16,000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, down 48% year on year.

Russia's imports of HDPE in other sectors of consumption (cable extrusion, rotational molding, etc.) declined to 7,200 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, compared with 7,900 tonnes year on year.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of titanium dioxide (TiO2) to Russia rose from January to July 2014 by 5% year on year, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

TiO2 imports to the Russian domestic market totalled over 49,000 tonnes over the first seven months of 2014.

Polymer converters and paper producers increased their purchasing, whereas shipments to the needs of the paints and coatings industry dropped by 4.5%.

However, paints and coatings producers remained the largest TiO2 consumers (they account for about 77% of the total consumption of titanium dioxide in the country).
Ukraine remained a reliable and the largest supplier of material for the Russian processing industry, despite possible difficulties in shipments through the East of Ukraine. The overall imports of Ukrainian TiO2 totalled 15,000 tonnes over the first seven months of 2014, which equal the same figure of 2013. At the same time, shipments from the United States, China, Finland and Germany increased.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over September contract prices of Russian suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began last week. Local producers intend to roll over August prices for next month's shipments, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Scheduled shutdowns for maintenance and a major fall in imports, particularly, from the United States, allowed Russian producers to achieve an increase in August contract prices by an average of Rb4,000/tonne from July. The shortage of resin remained in the market because of a number of factors, on the back of which Russian producers intend to maintain August prices for September shipments.

Scheduled outages for maintenance works will continue in September and October. Thus, Bashkir Soda Company (formerly, Kaustic (Sterlitamak) and Kaustic (Volgograd) will shut down their production for turnarounds, which will add to tight supply from Russian producers.

Converters intend to reduce contract prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The current prices are record high for the last few years, despite lower sales in the finished products market. Another powerful argument that converters state during negotiations is a reduction of the import duty for PVC to 6.5% from 1 September. Lower import prices will make imports less expensive for the Russian market, and import quantities will compete with Russian material.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polyamide (PA) and engineering plastics based on PA were 7,200 tonnes in January-July 2014, down 18% compared with the same time a year earlier, according to MRC DataScope.

The sharpest decline was seen in the imports of PA 6, which were 1,500 tonnes over the reported period, down 57% compared with the same time a year earlier. PA 6 is used for the production of sausage casings and multilayer packaging films. According to Rosstat, these markets in the first half of the year increased by 9% and 25% respectively.

Producers of packaging have given more preference to PA copolymers (based on PA6) because they improve barrier properties of the package. PA copolymers outperform in quality unfilled PA 6, which is used less and less. However, imports of PA copolymers decreased by 6% over the reported period to 4,200 tonnes.

The decline in demand for imported engineering plastics in the range of 5-7% is now a general trend in Russia. The main reason for this is the fall of the rouble and the high level of domestic prices, as well as a weak consumer activity in the markets of finished products.

Russia's imports of PA-emulsion were 1,000 tonnes in January-July, down 15% year on year. The main scope of the PA-emulsions - pulp and paper industry increased by 6% in the first half of the year.

Russia's imports of PA66 were 400 tonnes over the reported period, down 9% year on year. PA 66 is used for moulding of automotive components and parts in mechanical engineering.

Because of the high cost of PA66 it can be replaced by other engineering plastics. In the Russian market of PA and PA-plastics are the following types of product: unfilled PA 6 (with a share of about 20%), unfilled PA 66 (6%).

The rest volumes are divided between the PA copolymers (60%) and PA-emulsions (14%).


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Indo Thai Trading (ITT) has launched operations as a joint venture of Indonesia's Pertamina and Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), which will ultimately be responsible for marketing and distributing production from an integrated petrochemical complex planned by the two companies, as per Apic-online.

The incorporation of ITT is a "significant milestone" in the implementation of Pertamina and PTTGC's joint cooperation, noted Pertamina.

The proposed complex, which is scheduled to come on stream by 2019 in Balongan, West Java, is expected to include the production of about 1.2-million t/y of polyethylene and polypropylene and nearly 1-million t/y of other petrochemical derivatives such as monoethylene glycol and butadiene. ITT will be responsible for the marketing and sales of all production from this complex.

Prior to the complex coming on stream, ITT will serve as the exclusive distributor for Pertamina and PTTGC’s products in Indonesia. In order to diversify its portfolio, ITT also plans to outsource products from third parties.

As MRC wrote previously, in late 2013, Thailand's PTTGC signed a joint-venture agreement with Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina to set up a petrochemical complex with an investment of around USd4-5 billion (Bt127 billion to Bt158 billion). Both companies will have a 50:50 stake in this downstream-to-upstream project. They also signed a deal to market products from the project jointly.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC