US ethanol flows to Brazil

(ICIS) -- Brazil will receive around 200m litres (53m gal) of anhydrous ethanol, mostly from the US, over the next few weeks, market sources said on Wednesday, adding that the cargoes will help the country avoid a potential supply shortage. Market sources said half of the shipments were headed to Brazil's centre-south region, which accounts for around 90% of the country's ethanol production. The other half would go the northeast region, which produces the remaining 10%.

Brazilian ethanol prices soared to record highs in March, lifted by tight supply and unexpected strong demand, particularly for hydrous ethanol. Hydrous ethanol prices were assessed on Wednesday at USD 4.45/gal, up by 35% in the last four weeks.

Brazil uses hydrous ethanol in flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which can run on gasoline or stand-alone ethanol.

MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp said it would take at least two months to resume operations at two naphtha crackers in eastern Japan after a massive earthquake damaged some infrastructure and equipment at the fim's Kashima plant.

All operations at the Kashima facility have ceased, the company, a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company's naphtha crackers in Japan ethylene production capacity is 1 KTa.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Honam Petrochemical Corporation is to establish a manufacturing facility for polypropylene resin materials in Auburn, its first US manufacturing operation. HPM Alabama Corporation will initially invest an estimated USD 9.25 million dollars and create 30 jobs by next year. HPM will also collaborate with Auburn University for R&D projects.

Honam is part of the Lotte Group. With annual revenue of approximately USD 50 bln and 35.000 employees, the Lotte Group is the 5th largest conglomerate in Korea.

MRC

(Food Production Daily) -- BASF said it has developed the first monomeric HALS (hindered amine light stabilizer) for food contact applications in plastics. The Germany-based company announced its Uvinul 4050 FF protects polymers from degradation thanks to its combination of HALS and UV absorbers.

⌠The product enables more effective stabilization of polypropylene (PP) applications with food contact, BASF spokesman Tobias Wolfing told FoodProductionDaily.com. ⌠To protect polymers from degradation, a combination of HALS and UV absorbers is required.

He added that while the main area of application was for consumer goods, it was also designed for food packaging across a raft of sectors - such as vegetable and fruit crates as well as bulk bags made of PP tapes for flour and cereals.

MRC

Gain in PS and styrene plastics imports was fixed by all grades. Supplies of EPS expectedly grew by twice compared to January and made 4.4 KT, at that Asian EPS dominated in supplies.

Also imports of GPPS almost doubled up to 3.2 KT. Serious gain in supplies fell at PS produced by BASF. Supplies of HIPS from external suppliers grew by 50% and made 2.1 KT.

In whole, in comparison to last February import supplies of PS and styrene plastics to the Russian market grew by 11%.

MRC