Resilux signs contract with Dansk Retursystem for PET bottle supply

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belgium-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycler and preform producer Resilux has signed a long-term contract with Dansk Retursystem, the operator of the Danish deposit return system (DRS) that will give Resiliux access to PET bottles collected in Denmark, said Petnology.

The contract will give Resilux access to PET bottles collected via reverse vending machines in Denmark on the understanding that those bottles will be recycled and made back into bottles through the supply of preforms. This ensures that the food-grade recycled PET (R-PET) produced by Resilux is going back into the manufacture of bottles and not down-cycled into less valuable end-use applications or products.

This is not an exclusive offtake agreement – the post-consumer bottle bales are made available to other recyclers - and the contract does not state that all bottles collected via the Danish DRS must be returned into the Danish market. The length of the contract was also not disclosed.

Resilux entered into a partnership with German recycling company RCS Group in October, which may allow Resilux to source high quality recycled materials produced by RCS from the German waste system, thereby providing full traceability of materials from collection through to production of food grade recycled materials and their re-use in new preforms and bottles.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 52,71o tonnes in September 2020, down by 27% year on year. Overall PET consumption in Russia reached 530,750 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, down by 22% year on year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- On December 1, 2020, LG Chem has officially launched its new wholly-owned subsidiary LG Energy Solution, announced in September and approved in October, which consists of the battery business of LG Chem, said Chemweek.

LG Chem's battery business is not only quickly expanding, but also profitable (at least in the past two quarters). The revenues are expected to reach 13 trillion KRW (USD11.7 billion) in 2020, but that might be just the beginning as the forecast is upwards of 30 billion KRW in 2024.

The LG Energy Solutions unit employs approximately 22,000 people (approximately 7,000 in Korea and 15,000 abroad) globally. LG Energy Solution President Kim Jong Hyun said: “LG Energy Solution pioneered with an unwavering challenging spirit for the Korean battery industry, in which the said industry was practically nonexistent, and overcame many concerns and difficulties, and recently became the first to pave the foundation for creating structural profits in the EV battery business before any other competitor."

"We have now successfully spun off the company to reach for higher dreams and have now set out on a great voyage."

It's expected that during 2021, LG Chem will try to offer up to 30% of LG Energy Solution shares in an initial offering to benefit from the success and to finance further dynamic growth.

As MRC reported earlier, LG Chem, a South Korean petrochemical major, has shut down its naphtha cracker in Yeosu following a fire. The company said a fire broke out at its central control room at the Yosu cracker complex at around midnight local time (15:00 GMT) on 5 November. The country's largest chemical company said it was in the process of figuring out the cause of the fire. The facility can process about 1.2 million tonnes of ethylene per year (tpy).The cracker shutdown is expected to last at least three weeks.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European toluene contract price for December settled at USD454/metric ton on Tuesday, rising USD93/metric ton, or 26%, month-on-month amid stronger demand and tighter supply, according to sources and IHS Markit data, said Chemweek.

The settled contract price in November was USD361/metric ton. The contract price is negotiated between major producers and consumers in the market and confirmed by IHS Markit once a settlement is agreed. Demand for toluene strengthened in November, when consumption from chemical players in the domestic market improved as two toluene diisocyanate (TDI) producers lifted declarations of force majeure after technical issues caused outages in September and October.

Strong TDI margins are expected to result in healthy offtake for toluene from chemical buyers, according to Eleanor Dann, principal analyst/aromatics and fibers, at IHS Markit. “We see good demand from chemicals and solvents sectors,” says one toluene supplier. “TDI reached rock bottom in August and September, not just because of the force majeures but also weaker downstream demand,” the supplier says.

Demand has grown for toluene cargoes from Europe to India and the US market, according to sources. An outage at an aromatics plant operated by the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company in Iran siphoned off a regular supply of toluene from the Indian market between October and November. To fill the gap, at least 30,000 metric tons of toluene was shipped from West Europe to India in November, according to toluene traders. By comparison, total export volumes from West Europe to India totaled 6,000 metric tons in the first six months of the year, according to IHS Markit data.

"Export demand for toluene parcels to India is expected to persist into December, but more competitive pricing in the Asian markets and lower availability from Europe should prevent export volumes being as high as they have been in November," says Dann.

Toluene spot supplies remain tight in Europe, supporting the 26% monthly jump in the December contract price, as traders watch for trans-Atlantic export opportunities, but find instead scant volumes available for December shipping, according to market sources. “I’m looking for toluene for the US, but nobody is offering any product for December," says one trader.

Other factors that have contributed to low availability of spot toluene include lower refinery production rates, as gasoline demand has deteriorated during the second wave of COVID-19 lockdowns and mixed xylenes demand is capped by poor para-xylene margins. "The spread between benzene and toluene prices has turned selective toluene dis-proportionation margins positive, which has incentivized increased toluene consumption, particularly in the US," Dann says.

Meanwhile, reformer margins are still negative, and despite an increase in the toluene-naphtha spread of above USD50/metric ton from an October low of USD37/metric ton, poor demand for mixed xylenes is preventing refinery-based toluene producers from hiking toluene output, according to Dann. "Everyone’s minimum run rate varies, but we agree it’s low at the moment and it’s having an impact on [toluene feedstock] reformate supply,” says one producer. “We have enquiries for spot cargoes for first-half December, a lot of demand, but I don’t have spot cargoes,” the producer adds.

As MRC informed earlier, Covestro has lifted force majeure at its 270,000-metric tons/year toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant in Dormagen, Germany.

As MRC reported earlier, Covestro has closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall estimated consumption of PC granules in the Russian market reached 58,000 tonnes in January-July 2020, up by 22% year on year (47,500 tonnes).
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1. Oil price declines extend amid OPEC+ uncertainty, COVID-19 spread

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices retreated Dec. 1 amid uncertainty surrounding an expected extension of OPEC+ production quotas after the group delayed its meeting to Dec. 3, reported S&P Global. NYMEX January WTI settled 79 cents lower at USD44.55/b, and ICE February Brent fell 46 cents to USD47.42/b. OPEC is hoping a couple of days away from the market's glare will allow cooler heads to prevail and rescue a deal to extend production cuts that analysts say is needed to prevent an oil glut in the months ahead. Disagreements - at times vehement, according to sources - between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over how quotas will be managed and enforced led to a breakdown of formal OPEC talks on Nov. 30, and a meeting with Russia and other partners scheduled for Dec. 1 has now been pushed back by two days.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johnson Matthey (JM; London, U.K.) has secured a multiple licence win for China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group’s latest project to develop five of the largest single-train methanol plants in the world, said Chemweek.

Located at Baofeng’s Ordos City complex in Inner Mongolia, PRC, the plants have a planned capacity of 5 x 7,200 metric tons (m.t.) per day, and mark the fourth project on which Baofeng has selected Johnson Matthey as its collaboration partner for methanol technology.

Under the agreement Johnson Matthey will be the licensor of all five methanol plants and supplier of associated engineering, technical review, commissioning assistance and catalyst. The JM methanol plants will take synthesis gas as a feed and use JM radial steam raising converters in a patented Series Loop. Within the design, there is potential for 1–2% more feedstock efficiency over the life of the catalyst, says JM.

JM catalysts will enable Ningxia Baofeng Energy to produce stabilized methanol as a product that is used to produce olefins downstream. Thanks to JM’s methanol loop synthesis technology, the plants will provide enhanced energy savings along with low OPEX, CAPEX and emissions.

Upon startup, this will represent JM’s 13th operating license in China with a plant capacity greater than 5,500 m.t./d and the fourth JM methanol design licensed by Ningxia Baofeng Energy. This latest award follows the recent award of the 7200 tonnes per day licence in July 2020, the successful commissioning of the 6,600-m.t./d Baofeng methanol synthesis unit in May 2020 and the original 4,450-m.t./d methanol synthesis unit, which was commissioned in 2014. It again demonstrates Baofeng’s recognition of JM’s technical leadership in this key growth market and is a testament to Johnson Matthey’s commitment and dedication to the delivery of the most energy, cost and environmentally efficient large-scale methanol production units.

"We are deeply proud that Ningxia Baofeng Energy has selected JM yet again as methanol technology provider at their newest and grandest complex”, says John Gordon, managing director for Johnson Matthey. “Our continuing collaboration speaks volumes to their confidence in JM’s expertise and ability to design and deliver large scale plants. Our plant designs and catalysts are recognized the world over for their efficiency, enabling customers to enhance yields and improve the economic and environmental footprint of their plants. It’s an exciting time for both JM and our valued customer so we look forward to this next phase of our partnership".

As it was written earlier, Johnson Matthey JMAT.L on Thursday reported a near 90% slump in half-year profit and also refrained from providing an outlook for 2021, as pandemic restrictions continued to dent demand for its pollution filters. The company named the group’s financial controller Karen Hayzen-Smith as its interim chief financial officer and said sales at its Clean Air division fell nearly 30% on-year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

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 density 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, excluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
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