MOSCOW (MRC) -- During the week ended 31 October, chemical railcar traffic in North America weakened on a four-week basis, but year-to-date figures continued to improve, according to Chemweek.
The four-week moving average (4wma) was up 0.8% from 2019 and down 3.2% from 2018, declines from the respective 1.4% gain and 1.5% shortfall of the previous week (chart). Year-to-date, however, volume was down 4.0% from 2019 and 5.5% from 2018, up from the previous week’s shortfall’s of 4.1% and 5.6%, respectively.
Volume totaled 43,167 carloads, down 0.7% year-over-year (YOY) and up 1.9% from the previous week, according to data released on 5 November by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Chemical railcar traffic in the United States contributed 30,535 carloads to the total, down 3.9% YOY and down 1.3% from the previous week. For the year to date, US chemical railcar traffic is down 4.8%.
Canadian chemical rail traffic totaled 11,658 carloads, up 7.6% YOY and up 11.1% from the previous week. For the year to date, Canadian chemical railcar traffic is down 1.7%.
Chemical railcar traffic in Mexico totaled 974 carloads, a YOY increase of 12.9% and a sequential increase of 4.5%. For the year to date, Mexican chemical railcar traffic is down 5.1%.
As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased by 6.1% year on year in the first nine months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-September output. Last month's production of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes from 888,000 tonnes in August due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on year.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
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