FCFC to shut SM plant in Taiwan for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Chemical and Fibre Corp (FCFC), a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, is likely to take off-stream a styrene monomer plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is planned to be shut on September 1, 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around 40 days.

Located in Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, in early January 2015, FCFC has restarted its No. 1 SM plant. It was shut in mid-December 2014 on account of weak market conditions. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation (FCFC) is a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, the largest private owned enterprise in Taiwan, with annual revenue of USD13.5 billion.

Formosa Plastics Corporation is a Taiwanese company based in Taiwan that primarily produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins and other intermediate plastic products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Buyers of Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Penoplex's general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) reported an increase in prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Buyers of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's polystyrene (PS) in the market reported an increase of Rb2,300-2,500/tonne, including VAT, in prices for July shipments.

Spot prices of Kirishi GPPS rose by Rb1,000/tone, including VAT. Penoplex reduced shipments to the spot market.

Market players said they also expected Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's GPPS and HIPS prices to go up. At the same time, some buyers reported a shortage of GPPS in the spot market. Demand for HIPS was stable.

Some market players predict an even greater shortage of GPPS in the second half of July. Producers said they also anticipate a deficit in the styrene monomer (SM) market, which will be caused by scheduled outages at SM and PS plants in Russia. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut down its SM production on 23 June. Maintenance works at the Salavat plant's SM production will last until 23 July. Then the plant will shut donw its GPPS production. SIBUR-Khimprom is expected to shut down its SM production in August. The turnaround will last for a month.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Export prices of SIBUR's expandable polystyrene (EPS) for July shipments remained unchanged, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

New prices were announced to customers this week. EPS consumers also reported the availability of material at the producer's warehouse and no shortage. Like export prices, SIBUR did not change its prices for the Russian domestic market.

At the same time, importers to the CIS countries reported a decrease in prices of Chinese EPS. EPS prices, including delivery to the St Petersburg's port, were at USD1,620-1,650/tonne CIF, excluding VAT. Prices for the Ukrainian market were at USD1,590-1,610/tonne CIF Odessa, excluding VAT.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian market of high density polyethylene (HDPE), as well as low density polyethylene (LDPE) faced the deficit in the second half of June and another price rise, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The second half of June was quite difficult in the Russian HDPE market. Unscheduled outage at Stavrolen in the early month and the absence of the supply from Nizchnekamskneftekhim resulted in the deficit of the material. Amid the shortage of supply, HDPE prices on some grades exceeded Rb100,0000/tonne, the rush continued to be seen in the market.

Nizchnekamskneftekhim switched to the production of linear polyethelene (LLDPE) in May. The producer's clients said that the company would proceed with LLDPE production minimum to 15, July. Starolen had to shut its HDPE production in the late May - early August because of the problems with ethylene. Stock inventories at the producers and traders were low.

All these factors with seasonally increased demand led to the deficit in the market. The producers of film HDPE were the first who felt the tight supply in the market. Some companies said they had to buy feedstock at Rb99,000/tonne FCA, including VAT. The deficit has also affected the market of blow moulding PE, and this week there was reported a significant shortage of injection moulding HDPE.

Because of the sharp deficit of HDPE in the domestic market some Russian producers had to cut exports volumes in July. In particular, there was information about reduced export volumes from Stavrolen. Market participants said HDPE supply is unlikely to improve until mid-July, when Nizchnekamskneftekhim resumes its production. HDPE shortage in June led to a price rise in July contacts.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd.(RIL), the second largest publicly traded company in India, plans to shut down one crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Jamnagar petrochemicals refinery special economic zone for routine maintenance and inspection for nearly 10 days in July, as per Plastemart.

This opportunity would also be utilised to carry out necessary modifications to improve the reliability and performance of the unit, RIL said in a statement.

The other three crude distillation units, including major secondary processing units, are expected to operate at normal throughput.

As MRC wrote previously, Reliance Industries restarted its domestic polypropylene (PP) plant following maintenance turnaround in late March 2015. It was shut on February 28, 2015. Located in Jamnagar in the Western Indian state of Gujarat, the plant has a production capacity of 1 million mt/year.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC