Covestro PC imports to Ukrainian market up by 52% in Jan-Sep

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of Covestro's PC granules to the Ukrainian market grew in the first three quarters of 2019 by 52% year on year, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Thus, this figure increased from 1,400 tonnes in January-September 2018 to 2,100 tonnes.

Covestro's material accounted for 69% of the total PC imports to the country in the first nine months of 2019 versus 54% a year earlier.

Company's shipments of material to Ukraine were 231 tonnes last months, compared to 139 tonnes in September 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of PC granules to the Ukrainian market grew in the first three quarters of 2019 by 19% year on year to 3,000 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This figure was at 2,500 tonnes in January-September 2018.

In terms of technology, the share of injection moulding PC grades decreased to 51% (1,500 tonnes) for this period from 64% (1,600 tonnes) a year earlier. The share of extrusion grade PC rose from 15% (400 tonnes) of the total imports to 30% (900 tonnes), whereas the share of blow moulding PC grades dropped slightly from 21% (500 tonnes) 20% (600 tonnes).

Last month's imports of PC granules to the Ukrainian market grew by 50% year on year: from 273 tonnes to 410 tonnes in September 2018.

August shipments of material were 383 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's two largest producers of high density polyethylene (HDPE) - Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen - have resumed their operations after long maintenance works, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plants' customers said Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen had completely resumed their HDPE production by Monday, 21 October, after the shutdown for turnarounds. The outages were planned and began on 6 September and 26 September, respectively. These are the last scheduled turnarounds at Russian plants this year.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF Group) is one of Russia's largest plants. Kazanorgsintez produces 40% of overall Russian polyethylene (PE) and is the country's largest exporter. To date, the plant produces PE, polycarbonate (PC), PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A. Kazanorgsintez is Russia's only PC producer. It manufactures a total of 170 items of products. Kazanorgsintez's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes. The plant's annual HDPE production capacity is 540,000 tonnes, its output totalled 401,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 1% year on year.

Stavrolen's (part of Lukoil) HDPE production capacity is 300,000 tonnes. The plant's overall HDPE output exceeded 214,200 tonnes in January-September 2019, down by 4% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Fuhaichuang Petroleum and Petrochemical, formerly known as Dragon Aromatics, shut one of its two PX lines at Gulei, Fujian province on 14 October, reported S&P Global with reference to a source close to the company.

The source added that the shutdown was due to the poor margins caused by the narrow spread between PX and MX.

It was not immediately clear when the plant will restart, but market sources had earlier said the company was planning to shut a line for about one month in October.

The company has two lines that both can produce 800,000 mt/year of PX.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.

Fujian Fuhaichuang Petroleum Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. refines and distributes petrochemical products. The Company produces benzenes, liquefied petroleum gases, and other products. Fujian Fuhaichuang Petroleum Chemical Industry also provides petrochemical equipment maintenance services.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European vinyls producer INOVYN has launched the world's first commercially available bio-attributed polyvinyl chloride (PVC), reported S&P Global with reference to company representatives' statement.

The Biovyn product will be made using 100% renewable ethylene feedstock derived from biomass.

The product was officially launched Thursday at the K Trade Fair 2019 in Dusseldorf.

Biovyn will be manufactured at Inovyn's 320,000 mt/year Rheinberg site, where it will receive bio-attributed ethylenesupplied via pipeline from sister company Ineos' Cologne steam cracker.

Biovyn will be the first PVC made without using fossil fuels. Instead it will use a bio-attribution process, whereby bio-feedstock is strictly tracked to its precise output in the PVC product, following strict technical, social and environmental standards set out by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, the company said during the event.

"Through our sustainability program we are developing a new generation of PVC grades that meet both the rigorous product quality and performance needs of our customers, while moving us closer towards a circular, carbon-neutral economy for PVC", said Filipe Constant, Inovyn's business director.

"Driven by the increasing global focus on the circular economy, there is growing demand for a specialist, renewable PVC that decouples its production from the conventional use of virgin fossil feedstocks."

Biovyn is expected to be used in numerous applications, depending on customer demand, including general purpose but also specialty uses such as automotive and medical.

The event also discussed Inovyn's initiatives in producing recycled PVC, as part of its commitment to VinylPlus, a voluntary sustainability program to improve the sustainability performance of European PVC. In 2018 around 800,000 mt of recycled PVC was produced by the European PVC industry, with a target of around 900,000 mt/year by 2025, to make up around 20% of the current European virgin PVC market.

INOVYN is among the top four PVC producers in the world by volume, with around 1,800,000 mt/year capacity to produce various grades of PVC at seven plants across Europe.

As MRC reported before, in early October 2019, Inovyn started maintenance works at its PVC plant at its Jemeppe Site, Belgium. 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.

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