PP imports to Belarus up by 12.7% in H1 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) to Belarus rose in the first six months of 2019 by 12.7% year on year, totalling 55,800 tonnes. All grades of propylene polymers accounted for the increase in demand, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

June PP imports to Belarus were 10,200 tonnes, compared to 11,500 tonnes a month earlier, with local companies reducing their purchasing of polymer in Russia. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 55,800 tonnes in January-June 2019, compared to 49,500 tonnes a year earlier, demand increased for all PP grades, with propylene copolymers accounting for the greatest rise.

The structure of PP imports looked the following way over the stated period.

June imports of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) exceeded 5,800 tonnes, compared to 6,500 tonnes a month earlier. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 36,300 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 8.3% year on year. Russian producers with the share of about 86% of the total shipments were the key suppliers.

June imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus were 4,400 tonnes versus 5,000 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their procurement of injection moulding block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) in Russia. Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers reached 19,500 tonnes in January-June 2019, down by 22% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toy manufacturer Hasbro has announced plans to begin eliminating plastics from its packaging, as per Canplastics.

In an Aug. 20 statement, the Pawtucket, R.I.-based company said it will phase out packaging such as elastic bands, blister packs, window sheets and shrink wrap next year as part of its stated ambition to eliminate virtually all plastic in packaging for new products by the end of 2022.

One of the world’s largest toy companies, Hasbro is perhaps best known for its Nerf, My Little Pony, Monopoly, and Power Rangers toys and games.

"Removing plastic from our packaging is the latest advancement in our more than decade-long journey to create a more sustainable future for our business and our world,” Hasbro chairman and CEO, Brian Goldner said in the statement.

Hasbro said redesigning its packaging to eliminate plastic “is a complex undertaking."

"We know consumers share our commitment to protecting the environment, and we want families to feel good knowing that our packaging will be virtually plastic-free, and our products can be easily recycled through our toy recycling program with TerraCycle,” Hasbro president and COO John Frascotti said in the statement.

In the statement, Hasbro referred to what it calls its “long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability”, and notes that it eliminated wire ties in 2010, added “How2Recycle” labeling in 2016, began using plant-based bioPET in 2018, and most recently launched the above-mentioned toy recycling program with private recycling firm TerraCycle.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhong Tian He Chuang, a joint venture of Sinopec and China Coal Energy Group, has brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant on August 15, 2019. The unit was shut on August 7, 2019 owing to technical issues.

Located at Ordos, in Inner Mongolia, China, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2018, Sinopec Corp joined a group planning to build an oil refinery in Alberta, an enterprise that would strengthen demand for the Canadian province's heavily discounted crude.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, has increased April list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in the Americas, as per the company's press release.

The price increases below were effective for orders shipped on or after 30 July, 2019, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, VAM prices rose, as follows:

- by USD0.05/lb - for the USA and Canada;
- by USD100/mt - for Mexico & South America.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese last raised its VAM prices for the Americas on 20 March, 2019, as stated below:

- by USD0.05/lb - for the USA and Canada;
- by USD110/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 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical has agreed to license its propylene oxide (PO) production technology to leading state-owned Indian oil company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), said Plasticsnewseurope.

BPCL is currently conducting front-end engineering design and detailed engineering studies for the new PO and polyol plants adjacent to its refinery complex at Kochi, in the southern state of Kerala.

The PO production unit will have an annual capacity of 300 kilotonnes and is set for completion in 2022, Sumitomo announced 19 Aug.

Sumitomo Chemical's PO technology is based on a PO-only process in which, with cumene recycling, co-product free PO is manufactured.

The technology, combined with Sumitomo’s proprietary high-performance epoxidation catalyst, offers a high PO yield, superior energy efficiency and remarkable stability in plant operation, according to Sumitomo.

The technology has already been employed at Sumitomo Chemical's Chiba Works in Japan and Petro Rabigh in Saudi Arabia.

It was also licensed to S-OIL Corp. of South Korea for a new plant with a production capacity of 300 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa), which came on stream in 2018.

The Japanese company has also licensed the technology to PTT Global’s subsidiary in Thailand, which is currently building a 200ktpa plant set for completion in 2020.
MRC