Celanese raises prices of acetyl products and surcharges for engineered materials products

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, will increase list and off-list selling prices for the following acetyl products, as well as implement a surcharge for specific engineered materials products, said the producer on its site.

Celanese continues to be impacted by currency movements as a result of the recent significant euro devaluation. These actions are necessary as part of the company's efforts to mitigate these impacts. Customers should contact their Celanese sales representative for more details regarding this announcement.

Prices of acetyl products in Europe will be increased, as follows:

- acetic acid - by EUR50/tonne;
- ethyl acetate - by EUR70/tonne.

Price increases for these acetyl products are effective March 1, 2015, or as contracts allow.

Celanese will also implement a surcharge to all European selling prices of Fortron polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and Vectra/Zenite liquid crystal polymer (LCP) by 8% effective March 1, 2015, or as contracts allow.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2014, Celanese Corporation increased its price of vinyl acetate-based emulsions sold in the Americas. Thus, prices of PVAc homopolymer, vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) and vinyl acrylic emulsions rose by up to USD0.05/wet pound effective November 1, 2014, or as contracts allowed. This increase was attributed to the continued pressures on raw materials, notably vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), and freight.

The price increase affects all applications including, but not limited to, adhesives, paints and coatings, building products, nonwovens, glass fiber, carpet, paper and textiles.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,400 employees worldwide and had 2013 net sales of USD6.5 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has declared a dividend of 42 cents per share, payable April 30, 2015, to shareholders of record on March 31, 2015, reported the company on its site.

This marks the 414th consecutive cash dividend issued by the Company. Dow has paid its shareholders cash dividends every quarter since 1912.

As MRC wrote before, in November 2014, The Dow Chemical Company announced an increased divestiture target aligned to further enhance the value of its portfolio and support the company’s market-driven, integrated strategy.

On track to complete its goal of realizing USD4.5 billion to USD6 billion in proceeds by year-end 2015, and with additional portfolio management actions underway, Dow is now increasing its divestiture target to USD7 billion to USD8.5 billion to be complete by mid-2016. Since 2013, the company has generated USD2.5 billion in proceeds, reallocating this capital to remunerate shareholders, fund growth and reduce debt.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil-based petrochemical and polymers company Braskem seems keen to drop plans to build the Comperj petrochemical complex in Rio de Janeiro state and is instead exploring a doubling of capacity at its existing gas-based cracker there to over 1 mln tpa, as per Plastemart.

"When the Rio Polimeros project was launched five years ago, it was built to be able to double the current capacity,” as per the source. Capacity at the cracker complex, located at Duque de Caxias in Rio de Janeiro state, is around 540,000 tpa of ethylene and polyethylene (PE). However, the cracker is running at less than full capacity because of a lack of ethane/propane feedstock, said the source.

Braskem’s planned massive Comperj petrochemical project at Itaborai in Rio de Janeiro state, which would include a world scale gas cracker, had been on hold for years, as Braskem was unable to reach a supply deal on ethane/propane feedstock with state-operated oil and gas company Petrobras.

As MRC wrote before, Braskem completed its BRL50m (USD19m) Bahia facility expansion to increase its linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) production capacity. Through this initiative, the company intends to increase its polyethylene production capacity of LLDPE by 120,000mt per year to 470,000 mt/yr.

Braskem is Brazilian main producer of polyethylene and polypropylene. In addition with ongoing plants located in both petrochemical complexes, in April 2008 Braskem opened a 300,000 metric ton polypropylene plant in the city of Paulinia (Sao Paulo).MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - January imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in Russia decreased to 10,300 tonnes, down by 10% compared with the January 2014. The greatest decrease in imports occurred for film polyethylene, according to MRC DataScope report.

January imports of linear PE in the country decreased to 10,300 tonnes, compared with 11,400 tonnes in January 2013, and 19,200 tonnes in December 2014. The reduction in LLDPE imports was expectable and resulted from the seasonal factor and significant weakening of the rouble over the end of last year and early this year. As a consequence, most of the reduction in import volumes occurred for film LLDPE.

January imports of film LLDPE fell to 9,600 tonnes, compared with 10,600 tonnes in January 2014 and 16,000 tonnes in December 2014. Partly such a serious decline in imports resulted from large stock inventories left from December and traditional for January weak demand from the converters. However, to a greater extent import volumes decreased because of the December depreciation of the rouble in line with the rising interest rates.

Imports of LLDPE in other sectors of consumption in January was also seasonally low. Thus, the imports of polyethylene for rotational moulding of overall products were 27 tonnes in January, from 78 tonnes in December 2014. LLDPE imports are expected to increase in February largely because of the stronger demand from key customers - producers of film production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- February spot polystyrene (PS) prices grew in the Ukrainian domestic market, following the next depreciation of the national currency, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

On 5 February, The National Bank of Ukraine once again refused from holding the fixed indicative rate, and, therefore, the hryvnya exchange rate against the US dollar dropped from UAH17.99 to UAH25.92 from 5 February to 13 February. Traders raised their PS prices, following the fall in the national currency.

Prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's high impact polystyrene (HIPS) increased to UAH34,000-34,500/tonne CPT Kiev, including. Prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) went up to UAH33,000-33,500/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT. Prices of Russian material grew to UAH53,000-55,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT, in the expandable polystyrene (EPS) market (at the same time, prices in dollar were reduced). Offer prices of Asian PS grades rose to UAH53,000-54,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT.

Concern "Stirol" (Gorlovka, Donetsk region) is the only Ukrainian PS producer. The plant's nominal production capacity of HIPS and GPPS are 25,000 tonnes per year, whereas its EPS production capacity is 50,000 tonnes per year. "Stirol" has not produced PS since March 2014. The needs of the Ukrainian market have been fully met by imports, mainly, from Russia, for a year.
MRC