Polystyrene imports up 39% in Russia in January

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In January, polystyrene (PS) imports went up by 39% (to 6.94 kt) compared to the same month last year - reported in MRC Data Scope review. There was a serious decrease in demand for PS and styrene plastics at the start of the previous year.

Traditionally, beginning of the year is the time when buying activity is minimal; therefore, polystyrene imports are minor for the time present.


EPS imports increased more than 2.5 times (to 3.08 kt). At the same time, feedstock supply fell by more than two times compared to December. There was a serious decrease in supply of Loyal's material (two times). Russian companies were not importing Wuxi's EPS in January.

In January, ABS imports went up by 18% (to 1.36 kt) compared to the same month last year. The share of injection moulding grades amounted to 87% of overall ABS imports. Major volumes of injection moulding material belonged to feedstock imported from Asian countries (61%).


HIPS imports were 25% down (to 0.99 kt), having decreased nearly two times compared to December. Supply of BASF's material dropped sharply (3.5 times).


In January, GPPS imports increased 1% (to 0.80 kt), those of SAN - 64% (to 0.27 kt); at the same time, SBS imports fell by 19% (to 0.16 kt) compared to the same month last year.

MRC


For more detailed information on the Russian polystyrene market, see Data Scope.

LyondellBasell plans to stop PP plant in Terni

February 26 (polimerica) -- The chemical company has started the employee consultation process regarding a project to permanently shut down the Italian unit. The PP production activities in Italy will be focused on the company's world-scale sites at Ferrara and Brindisi.

⌠Demand for polypropylene continues to be affected by global economic conditions and the resulting market environment has made facilities such as Terni no longer economically viable - said Anton De Vries , LyondellBasell's senior vice president, Olefins and Polyolefins - We expect to be able to meet projected customer demand for polypropylene (including local customers in Terni) with product supplied from our other facilities in Italy".

The Terni plant has a nameplate capacity of 255 KT per year. In conjunction with the shutdown project, LyondellBasell has started consultation with representatives of the employees to determine the appropriate path forward for the employees at the site. The plant currently has approximately 120 permanent employees.

MRC MRC Reference

LyondellBasell. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 1.4% (including HDPE - 2.5%, LDPE - 0.3%);
PP - 4.1% (including block-copolymers - 9.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia, during the recent 5 years:
PE - 27%;
PP - 88%.

The leader in the following polymers processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

injection molding.

AWS increases rPET production despite fire

February 26 (prw) -- AWS Eco Plastics has increased production of its rPET pellet (purePET 78). The move follows an announcement from Artenius PET Packaging Europe (APPE) that it is investing to boost UK use of post-consumer recycled PET.

AWS and APPE agreed an exclusive contract for 13,000 tonnes of rPET per annum in 2008 and despite a major fire in August 2009 at its Hemswell site AWS has continued to supply on the contract.

The company is pleased to announce that increasing demand for its purePET 78 from additional customers, as well as APPE, has led to the increase in production from the manufacturing line.

Hemswell site manager, Tony Hayes, said: ⌠I am delighted to see this uplift in tonnage and sales, this compliments the recent increase in output from the plant, largely due to the efforts of my production and engineering teams.

⌠We are now fully operational, 24/7, and if we could run 30 hours a day the output would be sold.

MRC


Shell declared force majeure for C2/C3 from Moerdijk

February 26 (plasteurope) -- Shell Chemicals has declared force majeure on ethylene (C2) and propylene (C3) from its Moerdijk complex in The Netherlands and put all customers on allocation. Output of the site's cracker, with capacity for 900,000 t/y of C2 and 500,000 t/y of C3, had to be reduced following technical problems on 23 February.

A Shell spokesman told that repairs are expected to take around nine days.

MRC

Ineos ChlorVinyls to close PVC plant in Wales

February 26 (plasteurope) -- Ineos ChlorVinyls has announced that it will close its 125,000 t/y PVC plant at Barry, Wales, by the end of Q2 and supply customers from its other UK production units at Runcorn (110,000 t/y) and Newton Aycliffe (250,000 t/y) in England. Ineos, which is the UK's sole PVC producer, said it is adjusting output to reflect steadily declining market demand.

Some sources said the plant had been idled. Business manager Geir Tuft said consolidating PVC operations in the UK will underpin security of supply to customers, while delivering an improved cost base.

MRCMRC Reference

Ineos is a petrochemical group.
In Russia Ineos's interests are represented by Ineos Polyolefins and IneosChlorVinyls.

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC - 4.5%;

polyethylene - 1.9%
(HDPE - 2.8%, LDPE - 1.2%);
polypropylene - 1.4%
(PP-random - 22.1%, PP-impact - 2.0%);
polystyrene - 0.9%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
profile extrusion;
pipe extrusion;
film extrusion;
injection molding.