MOSCOW (MRC) - Consumption of polycarbonate (PC) in Ukraine decreased to 1,900 tonnes in January-August 2015, down 37% compared to the same period last year, according to a MRC DataScope report.
Demand for unmixed PC granules decreased to 1,800 tonnes in 2014, down 30% year on year. The reduction in the PC consumption resulted from the hryvnya devaluation, lower purchasing capacity of the population and a shortage of material in the European market.
Styron cut its shipments most of all (by two-fold year on year) to 220 tonnes. Sabic Innovative Plastics reduced its shipments to Ukraine by 27% to 721 tonnes.
To date, Bayer is the leading PC supplier to the Ukrainian market. The producer exported 797 tonnes of PC to Ukraine, down by 10% year on year.
Buying activity remained below average in the local PC market. The revival of the demand for PC is not expected to be in September.
PC imports (particularly, for special purpose PC grades) continued to decrease, despite the last month's stabilisation of the national currency.
The bottle grade PC market proved to be the most stable over the stated period. Its consumption remained unchanged and was 466 tonnes.
The extrusion grade PC market decreased most of all over the reported period to 239 tonnes, down 65% year on year. The injection moulding PC segment totalled about 1,000 tonnes over the said period, down by 20% year on year.
As before, traders tried to work with customers exclusively on contract basis and to import goods under specific projects. The spot PC market was practically absent in the country. Customers complained about the absence of such injection moulding grades in the market, as Calibre (Styron) and Wonderlite (Chi Mei).
Bayer's Makrolon was the most popular in the injection moulding segment. Ukrainian buyers said they could freely receive the required quantities, if necessary, because of the recent relative stabilisation of the European PC granules market.
MRC