Penoplex reduces December PS prices for Russian market

MOSCOW (Market Report) -- Penoplex, Russia's largest producer of foaming polystyrene (PS), has reduced its December selling prices of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) Stairovit by Rb1,500/tonne for the Russian market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, the company's prices for December shipments will be in the range of Rb94,500-96,500/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, this month.

Demand for December quantities was very strong in the market.

As reported earlier, Penoplex did not lower its November selling prices for Russian buyers, maintaining them at the level of October - R96,000-98,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Penoplex is a large Russian producer of polymer-based building and decorative materials. The company began its activity in 1998 with the launch of Russia's first line for the production of heat-insulating materials from extruded polystyrene foam under the PENOPLEX trademark. The company has eight production sites, seven of which are located in Russia and one - in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty region), with a total production capacity of 4 million cubic metres.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of the TAIF group) has reduced its December selling prices of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) by Rb2,000/tonne for Russian buyers, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

At the same time, Nizhnekamskneftekhim adopted an unconventional approach to pricing on the back of lower prices of material in foreign markets. Thus, December polystyrene (PS) prices decreased by Rb3,000/tonne and they will roll over for January for those buyers that will contract PS quantities for two months in advance. For those buyers that will contract only December quantities, this month's prices will be reduced by only Rb1,000/tonne.

Almost all the interviewed market participants said that under such conditions, buyers' choice was obvious and most of them would choose an option with the reduction of HIPS and GPPS prices by Rb3,000/tonne in December and their roll-over for January 2020.

Supply of PS from Nizhnekamskneftekhim will increase this month, several buyers for whom quantities were limited last month said the producer had fully met their orders for December-January. On the back of this, the Russian PS market is expected to become balanced and the upper range of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's material is expected to decrease by about Rb5,000/tonne and to come closer to the lower one.

As reported earlier, Nizhnekamskneftekhim reduced its PS prices for the Russian market by Rb2,000/tonne in November, despite a shortage of PS in the Russian market.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNK) - one of the largest Russian manufacturers of petrochemical products. The industrial complex of the company includes ten major production plants and ten departments (Railway Transport, Ethylene trunk, etc..). NKNKh produces more than 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is a member of TAIF Group of Companies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Polief plant, the Bashkirian subsidiary of SIBUR, resumed production of PTA on one of two lines at the plant in Blagoveshchensk last week, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The production of PTA will be launched on the second line in the coming days, according to market participants. Also, the resumption of PET production is planned at the beginning of December.

There were no free volumes of PET at the Polief and Sibur-PET plants this week for spot buyers.

Earlier it was reported about an accident at Polief, which happened on 9 October. Due to the collapse of the concrete tank, about 8 tonnes of untreated sewage spilled onto the territory of the plant and adjacent.

Polief launched the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) in Blagoveshchensk in September. The modernisation of the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) at Polief was completed in mid-August. The volume of consumption of PTA in the Russian market is about 500,000 tonnes per year.

Thus, the reconstruction of the existing production at Polief with an increase in the production capacity of the product from 272,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes per year will significantly replace imports.

SIBUR began the reconstruction of the production of PTA in Blagoveshchensk in December 2017. Polief JSC (Blagoveshchensk, Republic of Bashkortostan) is the only producer of terephthalic acid and the largest supplier of polyethylene terephthalate in Russia. The capacity for the production of PTA after modernisation is 350,000 tonnes per year, PET - 219,000 tonnes per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Ecopet, the largest producer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia and Eastern Europe, last week reduced the spot price of PET chips by Rb2,000/tonnes, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Producer's average spot prices fell to Rb80,000-83,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT. The interest of buyers has grown in the spot market in the last decade of November.

One of the converters received an offer to purchase PET from a warehouse in Tuchkovo in December at a price of Rb80,000/tonne, including VAT.

Ecopet plans in January 2020 to shut PET production for scheduled maintenances. According to the source, the scheduled maintenance works will last about one month.

The company is based on the territory of the free economic zone of the Kaliningrad region. The plant's total PET production capacities are 220,000 tonnes per year. PET chips are produced under the EcoPet trademark and is used for the production of food packaging and PET bottles. It was previously reported that in May 2017, Alco-Nafta CJSC was reorganized into a joint-stock company, and from June 26, 2017 it was renamed Ecopet AO.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shandong Sanyue Chemical, has restarted its No. 2 and No. 3 propylene oxide (PO) units, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that the company has resumed operations at the units on November 26, 2019. The units remained off-line owing to technical issues for about 2-3 days.

Located in Shandong province, China, the No. 2 and No. 3 units have a production capacity of 80,000 mt/year each.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Shandong Sanyue Chemical Co., Ltd. is a company based in China, with its head office in Binzhou. It operates in the Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing industry. It was incorporated on November 02, 2010. The total number of employees is currently 1,190 (2018). In 2018, the company reported a net sales revenue increase of 38.43%. A growth of 7.92% was recorded in its total assets. In, 2018, the company’s net profit margin decreased by 0.67%.
MRC