Global chemicals output declined in August

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) show that global chemicals production fell by 0.4 percent in August, more than offsetting the 0.1 percent gain in July, said Americanchemistry.

During August, chemical production increased in Latin America and Africa and the Middle East. Production fell in other regions. Headline global production was up only 1.6 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and stood at 118.0 percent of its average 2012 levels.

During August, global capacity rose by 0.2 percent and was up 3.6 percent Y/Y. As a result, capacity utilization in the global chemical industry fell 0.5 points to 82.5 percent. This is down from 84.1 percent last August and below the long-term (1987-2017) average of 86.4 percent.

Among chemical industry segments, August results were mixed, with consumer products, synthetic rubber, manufactured fibers and coatings showing gains. Considering year-earlier comparisons, growth was strongest in manufactured fibers, followed by synthetic rubber, other specialties, coatings and inorganic chemicals.

ACC’s Global CPRI measures the production volume of the chemical industry for 33 key nations, sub-regions, and regions, all aggregated to the world total. The index is comparable to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) production indices and features a similar base year where 2012=100. This index is developed from government industrial production indices for chemicals from over 65 nations accounting for about 98 percent of the total global chemical industry. This data are the only timely source of market trends for the global chemical industry and are comparable to the US CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia"s output of products from polymers rose in August by only 0.5% year on year. And this figure increased by 1.2% year on year in the first eight months of 2019. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, August production of unreinforced and non-combined films was slightly over 110,000 tonnes, compared to 112,000 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in January-August 2019 by 8.5% year on year to 718,900 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INOVYN has started maintenance works at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at its Jemeppe Site, Belgium, reported NCT with reference to market sources.

The company could not be reached for comments at the time of publication.

According to the company’s website, the Jemeppe site is one of the largest PVC production capacities in Europe with 420,000 tons/year of material supplied to key sectors including building, automotive and piping.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2016, Inovyn announced intention to undertake major investment to convert its mercury chlorine cellroom at Stenungsund (Sweden) to membrane technology. The project was completed by the end of 2017. Converting the chlorine plant at Stenungsund to the most modern membrane technology forms part of Inovyn’s wider Chlorine Strategy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production exceeded 720,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output.

Headquartered in London, INOVYN has pro-forma sales of more than EUR3 billion, with 4,300 employees and assets across 14 sites in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Governance of the Joint Venture is equally split between the partners.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, has announced an increase in October prices for all latex products sold into the Paper & Board, Carpet & Textile, and Adhesive & Construction Binder markets in the EMEA region, as per the company's press release.

Effective October 3, 2019, or as existing contract terms allow, the increase was EUR60 per dry metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo raised its prices for all polystyrene (PS) grades on 1 October 2019, as stated below:

-- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR20 per metric ton;
-- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR20 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, prices of Russian PS went up in October. Overall supply of material increased, but a shortage remained. Demand and supply of PS might be finally balanced in the domestic market in November.
Some major buyers reported an increase of Rb2,000/tonne in prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's PS this month. Prices for some medium-sized converters grew by Rb3,000/tonne.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.6 billion in net sales in 2018, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,500 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) fell 0.3 percent in August following revised declines of 0.7 percent in July and 0.6 percent in June, said Americanchemistry.

During August, chemical output was lower in all regions, with the largest declines in the Northeast and West Coast regions.

Chemical production was mixed over the three-month period. There were gains in the production three-month moving average (3MMA) output trend in plastic resins, chlor-alkali, and pesticides. These gains were offset by declines in the output of synthetic rubber, coatings, fertilizers, consumer products, organic chemicals, synthetic dyes and pigments, industrial gases, adhesives, manufactured fibers and other specialty chemicals.

Nearly all manufactured goods are produced using chemistry in some form. Thus, manufacturing activity is an important indicator for chemical production. On a three-month-moving average basis, manufacturing activity edged slightly higher for a second month in August, up by 0.2 percent. Output expanded in several chemistry-intensive manufacturing industries, including food and beverages, appliances, motor vehicles and parts, aerospace, construction supplies, fabricated metal products, computers, semiconductors, petroleum refining, oil and gas extraction, plastic products, and rubber products.

Compared with August 2018, U.S. chemical production in August was off 2.5 percent, a weakening year-earlier comparison. Chemical production was lower than a year ago in all regions, with the largest year ago declines in the Gulf Coast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia"s output of products from polymers rose in August by only 0.5% year on year. And this figure increased by 1.2% year on year in the first eight months of 2019. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, August production of unreinforced and non-combined films was slightly over 110,000 tonnes, compared to 112,000 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in January-August 2019 by 8.5% year on year to 718,900 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration’s proposal to boost the biofuels market next year would bring the amount of corn-based ethanol mixed into the nation’s fuel to about 16 billion gallons (60.6 billion liters), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“We’ve come to an agreement and its going to be, I guess, about, getting close to 16 billion ... that’s a lot of gallons. So they should like me out in Iowa,” he told a news conference.

The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program currently requires refiners to blend 15 billion gallons of ethanol per year, but the corn lobby has said the Environmental Protection Agency’s use of waivers means the actual volumes blended are lower than that.

Trump's EPA unveiled the plan here last week to boost U.S. biofuels consumption to help struggling farmers, but did not provide an exact figure. The plan cheered the agriculture industry but triggered a backlash from Big Oil, which views biofuels as competition.

The deal is widely seen as an attempt by Trump, who faces a re-election fight next year, to mend fences with the powerful corn lobby, which was outraged by the EPA’s decision in August to exempt 31 oil refineries from their obligations under the RFS. That freed the refineries from the requirement to blend biofuels or buy credits from those who do.

Biofuel companies, farmers and Midwest lawmakers complain such waivers undercut demand for corn, which is already slumping because of the U.S. trade war with China. Oil refiners say the waivers protect blue-collar jobs and have no real impact on ethanol use.

As MRC informed earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump has tentatively approved a plan to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners are required to blend each year to compensate for exemptions handed out to small refiners by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The plan is intended to address a major source of anger in U.S. farm country as Trump seeks to hold favor in the Midwest ahead of next year’s election, but it is likely to upset the oil industry, another important political constituency, underscoring the pitfalls of U.S. biofuel policy.
MRC