Celanese raises September LDPE prices in Americas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced an increase in its September low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices in the Americas, as per the company's press release.

The price increases below are effective for orders shipped on or after 15 September 2020, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, LDPE 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 also raised its September prices of ethylene-vynil-acetate (EVA) for the stated above regions, as follows:

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

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, demand for LDPE has remained very weak in the spot market since the beginning of the month. Converters made purchases exclusively under the existing orders for finished products, they refused to put LDPE and finished products into their warehouses. Buyers were confident that in October, with the end of the shutdowns for maintenance at several production capacities, supply of PE would increase significantly and prices would substantially decrease.

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 2019 net sales of USD6.3 billion.
MRC

1. Crude prices recover even as bearish fundamentals persist

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil futures recovered slightly during the mid-morning trade in Asia Sept. 22, after the prospect of renewed lockdowns amid a potential resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic drove futures down Sept. 21, reported S&P Global. At 11:16 am Singapore time (0316 GMT), ICE Brent November crude futures were trading at USD41.54/b, up 10 cents/b (0.24%) from the Sept. 21 settle, while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract was at USD39.57/b, up 26 cents/b (0.66%). This uptick in crude futures comes after the November Brent and the October WTI plummeted USD1.71/b and 1.80/b to close at USD41.44/b and USD39.31/b, respectively, on Sept. 21, following fears of renewed lockdown restrictions during the winter months, when the coronavirus is expected to spread faster.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has shut its low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that, the company halted operations at the unit on September 24, 2020. The unit is likely to remain under maintenance till mid-October, 2020.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the LDPE unit has a production capacity of 345,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, PTTGC unexpectedly shut its LDPE unit in the morning of 9 September due to minor plant issue. The unit was expected to restart by 10 September.

Besides, PTTGC undertook a planned shutdown at its LDPE plant for turnaround on July 7, 2019. The plant remained shut for around 3 weeks.

PTT has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 345,000 mt/year of LDPE and 800,000 mt/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) at the same site.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, July estimated LDPE consumption in Russia decreased to 43,380 tonnes from 55,380 tonnes a month earlier. Angarsk Polymers Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat cut thei shipments to the domestic market because of shutdowns for maintenance. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption grew to 335,000 tonnes in January-July 2020, up by 6% year on year. Despite the long outages, LDPE production increased, and imports also rose.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced an increase in its September low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices in China, as per the company's press release.

Thus, the company's LDPE prices rose by CNY700/mt for China, effective September 15, 2020, or as contracts otherwise allow.

The price increases above are for orders shipped on or after September 15, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced rises.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese has also raised its September prices of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) by the sam amount.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, demand for LDPE has remained very weak in the spot market since the beginning of the month. Converters made purchases exclusively under the existing orders for finished products, they refused to put LDPE and finished products into their warehouses. Buyers were confident that in October, with the end of the shutdowns for maintenance at several production capacities, supply of PE would increase significantly and prices would substantially decrease.

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 2019 net sales of USD6.3 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tomskneftekhim (subsidiary of SIBUR Holding) had resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) production after a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said the Tomsk producer had resumed PP and polyethylene (PE) by Thursday, after the completion of the scheduled maintenance works. At the same time, LDPE production capacities have not yet reached 100% utilisation. The scheduled outage started on 2 September.

It should also be noted that shutdowns for maintenance at the other Russian LDPE and PP production capacities are still ongoing. Last week, Ufaorgsintez and Kazanorgsintez completely shut their LDPE production capacities for scheduled turnarounds.

The Ufa producer intends to resume operations at some of its LDPE production capacities by the beginning of next week, and a full resumption of production is planned only on 10 October. The plant's annual production capacity is 90,000 tonnes. Ufaorgsintez also took off-stream its PP production on 12 September, the outage will also last until 10 October.

The Kazan producer also intends to carry out maintenance works at its LDPE production capacities in two phases, and a full resumption of production after the turnaround is scheduled for 9 October. The plant's annual production capacity is 225,000 tonnes.

LLC "Tomskneftekhim" was opened after the transformation of TNHK in 2003. It is a subsidiary of PJSC SIBUR-Holding, which is one of the backbone enterprises of the Russian Federation. The size of Tomskneftekhim's authorized capital was Rb6.5 billion in 2019, sales revenue - Rb13.2 billion, net profit - Rb1.9 billion.
MRC