US PET prices rise 3 cents/lb in January on feedstocks

(ICIS) -- US polyethylene terephthalate (PET) prices rose by 3 cents/lb in January over December, on higher prices for feedstocks paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA), sources said on Thursday.

January US PET prices were assessed at 86.71-88.71 cents/lb ($1,912-1,956/tonne, ┬1,415-1,447/tonne) after the increases, according to ICIS.

One PET producer announced a second 3 cent/lb hike, effective in mid-January. However, sources said that the additional January increase was not industry-wide and would probably be seen only for sales above regular volumes.

Nominations for February PET were up by as much as 9 cents/lb, as sellers attempted to keep pace with surging feedstock values and protect threatened margins.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Silgan Plastics Corp will close one of its two plants in Woodstock, Ill., by the end of 2011. The company notified employees Jan. 3 of the closure of the food container facility, Chief Financial Officer Robert Lewis said during a Jan. 20 telephone interview.

Silgan in 2010 licensed Kortec Inc.'s multilayer injection molding technology for packaging wet pet foods, fruit cups and microwaveable soup containers; Lewis said the Woodstock facility did not receive any of that equipment.

The 190,000-square-foot plant manufactured containers for clients including Nestle SA and Campbell's Soup Co.

Silgan also operates a 130,000-square-foot tube extrusion plant in Woodstock.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Lummus Technology has been awarded a contract by OAO Salavatnefteorgsyntez (SNOS) for the engineering, procurement, and supply of materials for a third cracking heater at its ethylene plant in Salavat (Russian Federation). This award, part of the plant's long-term modernization and upgrading project, follows Lummus Technology's successful completion of two previous heaters.

MRC

(PRW) -- Italian film machinery maker Colines will demonstrate production of 2m wide 50-layer cast stretch film at its production facility at Novara next week. The film production system, which is equipped with a flat die and layer multiplier system from US-based Extrusion Dies Industries (EDI), uses four extruders (two 80mm and two 140mm) and a 16-component gravimetric feed system.

The line, from Colines' HandRollEx series, is claimed to run at an output rate of up to 1,800 kg/hr, equivalent to a linear speed of 1,000 m/min. Typical power consumption is around 0.42-0.44 kW/kg.

Film layer multipliers divide and reassemble the melt flow to create complex multi-layer structures. The technology is said to improve barrier and mechanical performance due to its ability to minimise the harmful effect of thin spots or pinholes in the finished web.

The line will be running at an Open House at the Colines factory at Novara until 4 February.

MRC

(UzEx) -- Over two decades of January polyethylene F-0220-S (film group) returned lost positions. The part of its sales in total volume of sales of polyethylene granules made 29 % whereas last year the given parameter made only 5 %, according to Uzbek commodity Exchange

As a whole, 4,5 KT of polyethylene granules of all grades were sold through the exchange tenders, which was 400 T more than that for the same period last year.

According to exchange traders, this year will be the year of the raised demand for polyethylene, considering high activity in the given segment of the exchange market.

MRC