SPVC imports in Ukraine increased by 15% in January - March 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) - Despite a number of negative factors, imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) in Ukraine increased to 19,400 tonnes in January - March of this year, up 13% compared to the same period of 2014, as per MRC DataScope.

March SPVC imports to Ukraine dropped to 5,100 tonnes, compared with 6,200 tonnes in February 2015. Nevertheless, in spite of the time factor (long holidays in January) and a severe recession in the economy, the Ukrainian companies in the current year continued to buy quite high SPVC purchases in foreign markets.

Ukraine's SPVC imports over the first three months of the year was 19,400 tonnes, compared with 17,100 tonnes year on year. The main increase in SPVC imports occurred for supplies from Europe. Structure of PVC imports in Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

March imports of US PVC slightly decreased to 220 tonnes, compared to 3,200 tonnes a month earlier. Such a serious decline in the supply of North American PVC resulted from high export prices in comparison with European producers. Total imports of US resin into the country dropped to 6,900 tonnes in January-March 2015, compared with 11,200 tonnes year on year.

March imports of PVC increased to 3,500 tonnes, compared to 1,600 tonnes in February on the growing supplies from Poland. Total imports of European SPVC were 8,800 tonnes in the first three months of the year, compared with 5,700 tonnes year on year. Peak supply of SPVC in Russia took place in February, with a little more than 1,400 tonnes delivered, in March this figure dropped to 1,300 tonnes.


The main volume of purchases made producers of window profiles and cable compounds. Total exports Russian resin exceeded 3,700 tonnes in the first three months of the year, compared with 260 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical is in plans to shut a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be shut in end-July 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Nanjing in China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, on March 26, 2015, Sinopec Cangzhou Petrochemical has shut its refinery for maintenance turnaround. It is planned to remain off-stream for around two months. Located at Cangzhou in Hebei province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 2.5 million mt/year.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian energy and petrochemicals group Sibur has announced the first logo change in its 20-year history, the new design featuring its name in an updated font style, said the company in its press relelase.

Previously, the company had two logo design versions, using either the Sibur name or a stylised Latin S and a tree leaf located in a triangular with the name in the same font.

The key concept idea behind the new logo is an icebreaker, which reflects the company’s ambition to keep moving forward despite all the obstacles, according to a 21 April press release.

"Any brand evolution is the story of the company’s changes and achievements. Established 20 years ago, Sibur has since then grown into the industry leader steadily pursuing its line," said Oleg Makarov, Sibur’s managing director.

The logo is the first stage of a rebranding campaign covering all aspects of Sibur’s corporate style. This is a phased process scheduled for the next two to three years.

As MRC informed earlier, this year, SIBUR has added new advanced polypropylene (PP) grades to its product mix. The grades are included into the production plans of the Company's facilities and are already available to customers.

Sibur is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 30 June 2014, SIBUR operated 26 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 26,000 personnel.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemicals giant DuPont Co. said first-quarter profit declined from the previous year, as revenues dropped amid adverse currency and decreased volumes, as per company's press release.

The company now expects higher-than-previously estimated negative currency impact in 2015, and as a result sees full year earnings at the low end of its prior outlook.

Ellen Kullman, DuPont Chair and CEO, said, "DuPont delivered volume and margin improvements in the majority of our post-spin segments through intense focus on innovation, disciplined execution and ongoing efficiency improvements and cost reduction, even in the midst of challenging currency and market environments. We expect performance in the remainder of the year to build on this momentum, driven by new product sales and benefits from our accelerated operational redesign.

Attributable net income dropped to USD1.03 billion or USD1.13 per share from USD1.44 billion or USD1.54 per share reported in the prior year.

Including a USD0.25 per share negative currency impact, operating earnings were USD1.34 per share, while it totaled USD1.58 per share in the prior year. On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of USD1.31 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Cost reductions from operational redesign contributed USD0.10 per share to operating earnings. In 2015, total cost savings are expected to increase to around USD0.40 per share. Net sales fell to USD9.172 billion from USD10.128 billion in the prior year. Analysts expected revenues of USD9.41 billion.

The company attributed the sales drop to a 6 percent impact from currency, portfolio changes of 2 percent and expected near-term industry-wide challenges in Agriculture and Performance Chemicals.

Sales declined in the Agriculture business to USD3.94 billion from USD4.39 billion. Operating earnings decreased 21 percent, as improved product mix in Pioneer, pricing actions taken in parts of Europe and Asia and productivity improvements were more than offset by adverse currency, decreased volumes from expected reduction in global corn planted area, lower insecticide demand in Latin America and timing of seed shipments.

As MRC informed earlier, DuPont Crop Protection (DuPont) announced an agreement with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) for DuPont to sell its global Kocide and ManKocide copper fungicide business assets to Mitsui.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Several petrochemical crackers in Europe were undergoing maintenance in March and April, which somewhat limited prompt demand for feedstocks naphtha and LPG, said Plastemart.

Among plants still undergoing unplanned maintenance this week are OMV's Schwechat cracker in Austria, Versalis's Dunkirk cracker in France, Shell's Moerdijk cracker in the Netherlands, and Total's Feluy cracker in France cracker. The plants still undergoing planned maintenance are Total's Antwerp cracker in Belgium, Total's Feyzin cracker in France, and Dow's Terneuzen cracker in the Netherlands.

Dow begun scheduled maintenance at one of its Terneuzen crackers in the Netherlands in early March. The maintenance, expected to last until late April, is taking place at the site's largest cracker, Terneuzen 3, which has an ethylene capacity of 680,000 tpa. Turkish major Petkim was heard to be restarting its Aliaga cracker this week after a power trip halted production last week, while Repsol's Puertollano cracker in Spain restarted last week.
MRC