Canadian vehicle purchases dropped in September

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canadian vehicle purchases dropped by 7.4 per cent year-over-year (y/y) in September for a seventh consecutive month of year-on-year declines and the market’s steepest y/y contraction since 2009, a new report from Scotiabank says, as per Canplastics.

According to Scotiabank’s latest Auto News Flash, at an annualised pace of 1.97 million units sold on average each month during Q3 2018, quarterly sales averaged under 2.0 million units on a seasonally-adjusted annualised basis for the first time since Q4 2016. "A decline in business and consumer confidence between August and September, as reflected in survey readings, appears to be behind the drop in sales during the month,” the report said. “However, given the absence of other economic indicators for the month, it is still too early to tell what caused Canadians to hit pause on vehicle purchases. If it were a transitory issue, sales should bounce back in October on the basis of our broader macroeconomic forecast."

In the U.S., meanwhile, auto sales jumped to an annualised level of 17.36 million units in September supported by dealer inventory clear-outs of 2018 models, beating expectations for 17.0 million units sold.

"Last month’s print follows two consecutive months of sub-17 million vehicle deliveries for an average of 16.9 million vehicle purchases in the third quarter," Scotiabank said. "This marks the lowest quarterly performance since Q2 2017, and a decline from average sales levels of 17.1 million and 17.2 million units in the first and second quarters of 2018, respectively."

Scotiabank continues to expect U.S. vehicle sales to continue on a downward trajectory through year-end for an annual total of just over 17 million units sold in 2018. "Purchases contracted heavily by 5.9 per cent y/y from a high base last September that was generated by vehicle replacement demand following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in the U.S. Gulf Coast,” the report said. “The Detroit Three automakers saw a combined drop of 7.5 per cent y/y, although Fiat-Chrysler’s (FCA) unit sales exceeded Ford’s for the first time since January 2016 while GM remains the king of Motor City."

Across all automakers, truck sales in the U.S. rose by 6.2 per cent y/y compared to a 17.5 per cent decline in car purchases, Scotiabank said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation has announced that Kim K.W. Rucker has been elected to the company's Board of Directors, as per the company's press release.

Formerly the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Andeavor (Tesoro Corp.), a premier highly integrated marketing, logistics and refining company, Kim is beginning her Celanese Board service immediately.

"Kim's career experiences are impressive, and we're delighted to welcome her to the Board and Celanese. Her leadership skills, keen insights on the importance of culture, corporate governance and oversight of companies undergoing tremendous growth complement our work, and we look forward to benefiting from her expertise and experience," said Mark Rohr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Before joining Andeavor, Kim served as EVP of corporate and legal affairs, general counsel and secretary at Kraft Foods Group. Prior to Kraft, Kim held a number of senior level positions at Avon Products and Energy Future Holdings that include general counsel, secretary, compliance officer and governance officer. This extensive background enabled her to cultivate a breadth of valuable business, leadership and corporate governance experience. Kim began her legal career at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago.

Kim currently serves on corporate boards at Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Lennox International Inc. She is also a member of the board of trustees and the International Committee at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Kim earned a B.B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, has increased October list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas. The price increases below were effective for orders shipped on or after October 1, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, VAM prices rose, as follows:

- by EUR50/mt - for Europe, Middle East & Africa;
- by USD0.03/lb - for the USA and Canada:
- by USD65/mt - for Mexico & South America.

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, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC (Shell) today announced the successful installation of its quench tower – the largest piece of equipment at its Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, currently under construction, said the company.

The heavy lift of the quench tower, undertaken October 7, marked an important milestone in the project. Since the start of main construction in November 2017, Shell has also safely erected two of three reactors associated with the planned polyethylene units and laid around 15 miles of underground pipe for the cooling, firewater and drainage systems.

The project is bringing economic growth and jobs to the region, with some 3,000 workers on site today. That number will likely increase to 6,000 by the end of 2019 through its construction phase. Shell expects around 600 onsite jobs when the complex is completed.

"Eleven months into main construction, I’m delighted with the progress we’re making in Pennsylvania,” said Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Shell’s global chemicals business. “It’s great to see our world-class complex taking shape. The project is providing more economic opportunities in Pennsylvania and the region."

At approximately 2,000 tonnes and 87-metres-tall, the quench tower spent nearly three and a half weeks being towed up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Upon arrival in Pennsylvania, it was unloaded onto a dock and transported down a newly-created road – both specially-designed to handle the large quench tower.

In May 2018, Shell introduced its Shell Polymers line of business to customers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azeri state energy company SOCAR plans to start up its new oil refinery in Turkey next week, reported Reuters with reference to a spokeswoman at SOCAR’s Turkish division.

The USD6.3 billion Star refinery, the first in Turkey built in 30 years, will supply feedstock to Turkish petrochemicals firm Petkim to help to cut Turkey’s dependence on imported refined oil products. It will boost Turkish refining capacity by 30 percent.

The plant on Turkey’s Aegean coast would have capacity to process about 10 million tonnes per year (200,000 barrels per day) of crude.

The plant is expected to produce 1.6 million tonnes of naphtha and 420,000 tonnes of xylenes. It will also produce about 4.8 million tonnes of diesel, alongside jet fuel, petroleum coke, reformate, sulphur and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Turkey produces a surplus of gasoline but relies on imports of diesel, with consumption of the fuel growing by about 7 percent a year and expected to reach 25 million tonnes in 2019.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2018, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A. - had signed with the Client SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refineryan EPC contract (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) as an important part of the execution of the Modernization and Reconstruction works for the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, in Azerbaijan.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia totalled 13,800 tonnes in January-September 2018, down by more than three times year on year. At the same time, Russian producers were forced to increase their exports by 29%, according to MRC's DataScope report.

SPVC imports have reached a historical minimum for the past three months because of a number of factors. September SPVC imports fell to 344 tonnes from 794 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall imports of resin to Russia totalled 13,800 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018, compared to 42,400 tonnes a year earlier. At the same time, weaker demand for PVC from the domestic market over the past few years and high capacity utilisation at the existing production capacities forced Russian producers to ship resin for export more actively this year, export sales rose by slightly less than a third.

Chinese producers were the key foreign suppliers of resin, overall imports of acetylene PVC were 11,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018 versus 39,500 tonnes a year earlier.

SayanskKhimPlast, Russia's second largest PVC producer, shut its production capacities for maintenance in July-August, and this factor led to lower exports. But already since September some producers have begun to dynamically increase their exports due to weaker demand in the domestic market.

9,600 tonnes were shipped to foreign markets in September (excluding deliveries to the countries of the Customs Union) versus 5,000 tonnes a month earlier. 87,800 tonnes of SPVC were shipped for export in January-September 2018, compared to 68,100 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC