September HDPE production in Russia dropped to 66,500 tonnes, whereas this figure reached 73,800 tonnes a month earlier. Scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at the two largest plants - Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen - was the main reason. Overall HDPE production reached 714,200 tonnes in January-September 2017, compared to 769,900 tonnes a year earlier. Only production at Kazanorgsintez increased, whereas Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat showed a negative growth in their output.
The structure of polyethylene (PE) production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.
Kazanorgsintez's total HDPE output fell to 33,700 tonnes in September from 47,000 tonnes a month earlier, the Kazan plant began a gradual shutdown of its production capacities for a turnaround on 12 September. The Kazan plant's overall HDPE production was 397,000 tonnes in January-September 2017, up by 7% year on year.
Stavrolen produced 12,600 tonnes of HDPE last month versus 25,400 tonnes in August. Stavrolen shut its production for a two-month maintenance and modernisation of some of its production capacities on 16 September. The plant's output reached 206,100 tonnes in the first nine months of 2017, which corresponded to the figure of 2016.
Gazprom neftekhim Salavat produced over 11,300 tonnes of HDPE in September, compared to 1,400 tonnes a month earlier, the August low figure was caused by a long outage. Overall HDPE production at the Bashkir plant reached 64,200 tonnes in January-September 2017, down by 23% year on year.
Nizhnekamskneftekhim switched ot HDPE production only in late September and produced about 9,000 tonnes for the incomplete working month. The plant's overall HDPE production was only 46,900 tonnes in January-September 2017, compared to 108,700 tonnes a year earlier. Such a noticeable reduction in the output was caused by an increase in the share of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in the total production.
MRC