Russian extrusion polycarbonate market increased by 5% in January-September 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's market of extrusion polycarbonate (PC) increased to 62,000 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, up 5% year on year, according to MRC ScanPlast report.

Extrusion segment of PC granules market in Russia is the biggest (85% share) and dynamic. The only Russian producer of PC in the country is Kazanorgsintez.
The share of Kazanorgsintez's material over the reported period reached 66.4% from the total extrusion PC granules consumption in the country. In the same time last year it was 62.5%. Kazanorgsintez has adopted a policy of import substitution and the reorientation to the domestic market.

Russia's exports of extrusion PC granules over the reported decreased to 20,800 tonnes, down 6% year on year. Traditionally, the key importers of PC in the Russian market are Bayer and Sabic.

Production of PC for sheet extrusion by Kazanorgsintez increased to 42,200 tonnes in January-September 2014, up 10% year on year.
Russia's exports of extrusion PC decreased to 973 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, down 38% year on year.
MRC

PC production in Russia remained as last year over three quarters of 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The output of polycarbonate (PC) in the Russian Federation reached 50,000 tonnes over the first three quarters of 2014, which equals the last year's level, according to MRC ScanPlast report.


Kazanorgsintez, Russia's only national PC producer, produced material steadily over the stated period. The plant's monthly capacity utilisation was 100% except for the months of scheduled maintenance works.

Kazanorgsintez produced the same volume of PC as last year. However, the production structure was changed. Thus, extrusion grades accounted 78% of the total PC output (38,400 tonnes) over the first three quarters of 2013 and injection moulding grades - 22% (10,700 tonnes). 42,200 tonnes of PC for sheet extrusion (86%) were produced over the first nine months of the year, while 6,800 tonnes of PC (14%) were produced for injection moulding. Thus, Kazanorgsintez's output of injection moulding PC fell by 36%, whereas its production of PC for sheet extrusion increased by 10%.


Almost all Kazanorgsintez's injection moulding grades produced last year were exported to foreign markets. Thus, 9,700 tonnes were exported from January to September 2013, accounting for 91% of the plant's total production of injection moulding PC over the said period.

The needs of the Russian market in this material are 800-900 tonnes per month, including imports. Injection moulding grades will be produced as per the needs of the national market (200-300 tonnes) because of the reorientation of the producer to the domestic market. Exports were suspended. Extrusion grade PC accounts for the bulk of the total output.

MRC

Saudi petrochemicals lose out after oil falls

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical companies are expected to disappoint in the third quarter after crude prices fell 15% over the same period, analysts say, reported The National.

"The only sector where we could have some negative surprises is petrochemicals, because they took a hit with the fall of oil prices in the quarter," said Sebastien Henin, the head of asset management at The National Investor, an Abu Dhabi-based investment bank.

Petrochemical prices are closely linked to prevailing oil prices because naphtha, a common feedstock, closely tracks the price of crude.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest producer in Opec and its petrochemicals sector has the biggest representation on the kingdom’s stock exchange. The results should trigger profit-taking as companies such as Sabic, the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker by market value, have performed extremely well of late, Mr Henin said. Shares of Sabic rallied 17 per cent from July 21 to September 9, he added.

Weighed by petrochemicals, Saudi Arabia’s companies are expected to register 5% growth in profits to 25.5 billion riyals (Dh24.97bn), Mubasher wrote. The financial and healthcare sectors are expected to register growth of 16%, it added.

As MRC wrote before, Sabic is modifying its Wilton cracker in the UK to enable it to use ethane feedstock imported from the US. The company is aiming to complete the project by 2016. Sabic had said in 2013 that it was studying the possibility of converting the naphtha cracker. The nameplate capacity is 865,000 tpy of ethylene, 400,000 tpy of propylene and 100,000 tpy of butadiene.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

Rosneft takes EU to court over Ukraine sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft, the state oil company, has launched legal challenges to the sanctions, imposed over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as per Financial Times.

The EU bans, with similar measures adopted by the US, have all but frozen Russian companies and banks out of western capital markets, at a time when they have to refinance more than USD130bn of foreign debt due for redemption by the end of 2015.

Rosneft filed a case against the EU’s European Council in the general court under the European Court of Justice on October 9, requesting an annulment of the council’s July 31 decision that largely barred it and other Russian energy companies and state banks from raising funds on European capital markets.

The challenges follow verdicts that have gone against the council in relation to similar measures imposed on Iran and Syria. In particular, the court has ruled that in implementing sanctions, European states have been too reliant on confidential sources, which impair the targets’ ability to mount an effective defence.

However, as the sanctions generally remain in place during the often lengthy appeals process, legal action does not promise quick relief from the economic pain such measures inflict.

Rosneft’s request was filed on behalf of the company itself and other unidentified parties. The capital markets sanctions that the company wants overturned also affect Russia’s biggest state lenders Sberbank, VTB, VEB, Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank, as well as Gazpromneft, the oil arm of the state gas monopoly, and Transneft, the state-owned pipeline monopoly.

Rosneft, Rosselkhozbank and Sberbank declined to comment. VTB said it had not made a final decision with regard to legal action over the sanctions. "We are carefully studying this issue and taking legal advice," the bank said.
Transneft said it was not involved in the case. Gazpromneft, Gazprombank and VEB did not respond to requests for comment.

The EU said the council would defend the sanctions in court. "The council takes great care to ensure legal robustness when adopting restrictive measures and takes due account of relevant case law of the court," it said.
"The fact that court proceedings are brought does not mean that the restrictive measures will be suspended during those proceedings."


MRC

BASF inaugurates expanded mobile emissions catalysts plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has inaugurated its expanded mobile emissions catalysts manufacturing operation in Shanghai, China, further strengthening the company’s regional presence and its position as a leading supplier to the automotive industry, as per the company's press release.

The inauguration event culminates a three-year expansion project which doubles the company’s production capacity for mobile emissions catalysts in China, adding new light duty emissions catalysts production lines, a new heavy duty diesel catalysts plant and a state-of-the-art automated warehousing facility.

"Our Shanghai expansion project positions BASF to meet growing demand in China by providing a full line of innovative emissions catalysts solutions that allow our customers to address increasingly stringent emissions requirements," said Marc Ehrhardt, Senior Vice President of BASF’s Mobile Emissions Catalysts business.

Catalysts technologies such as the Three-Way Catalyst (TWC), Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), and the advanced Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology system for heavy duty diesel applications will be locally manufactured in Shanghai.

As well as serving as BASF’s Asia Pacific hub for its emissions catalysts business, the Shanghai site houses the company’s regional Research and Development Center, and complements BASF’s emissions catalysts manufacturing operations in Guilin, China; Chennai, India; Rayong, Thailand; and joint venture manufacturing sites in Korea and Japan.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF is also expanding its mobile emissions catalysts production capacity in Chennai, India. Construction of a new 47,000 square meter facility began in December 2013, enhancing the company’s existing emissions catalysts operation in Chennai with new production lines and manufacturing capabilities. Start-up is planned in the first quarter of 2015.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC