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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has announced
prices increases in North America for formic acid, neopentylglycol, select
polyetheramines, and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and its derivatives, reported Chemweek.
The price of all grades of
formic acid has been raised by 5 cents/pound (cts/lb), effective immediately or
as existing contracts permit, it says. Prices for BDO and its derivatives
gamma-butyrolactone and n-methylpyrrolidone, meanwhile, will rise by 15 cts/lb
as of 1 April, or as contracts allow. Prices will also be increased by 20 cts/lb
for tetrahydrofuran and polytetramethylene ether glycol, also as of 1
April.
BASF says prices for three of its polyetheramine products in North
America will also rise, effective 1 April or as contracts permit, by 30-38
cts/lb. The polyetheramine products are used mainly for the processing and
curing of epoxy resins in various coating applications and sealing
compounds.
The price of neopentylglycol, meanwhile, has been increased in
the Americas, also effective 1 April or as allowable. BASF says it will hike its
price for all grades of the polyalcohol in North America by 27 cts/lb, and in
South America by $595/metric ton.
BASF announced a price
rise on 1 March for BDO and its derivatives in Europe.
As MRC wrote before, in
mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its
Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due
to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and
is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000
metric tons/year, with the other�s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year,
according to IHS Markit data.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for
producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC"s ScanPlast report,
Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2%
year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density
polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to
the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the
formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers"
inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer
increased.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range
of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade
chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The
most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction,
textile and automotive industries. |
