US ethylene contracts for March rising by nearly 10% from February

(ICIS) -- US ethylene contracts for March were mostly settled on Friday at 53.75 cents/lb (USD 1.185/tonne, EUR 830/t), rising by nearly 10% from February on higher production costs and a jump in spot prices. The increase, which was in line with projections, followed a 10% rise in ethane prices and a nearly 16% surge in ethylene spot prices last month.

Spot ethylene traded in a range of 53.00-60.00 cents/lb in March, rising from 44.25-53.50 cents/lb in February.

Market participants also pointed to firm demand, citing strong derivative exports as a factor pushing ethylene prices up.

According to sources, 20% of US ethylene derivative output was being exported. For polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the number was as high as 40%, sources said.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Huntsman Corp has acquired Gujarat-based chemicals producer Laffans Petrochemicals, and has also taken the ownership of the company's 60 KT ethylene oxide derivatives facility at Ankleshwar. Laffans ethylene oxide derivatives unit set up in 1994, had revenues in excess of USD 50 mln in 2010. The Ankleshwar plant was set up under technical assistance from Reliance Industries and is in proximity to the Hazira plant. The unit operates the largest loop reactor in the country and its glycol ethers and acetates unit has a capacity of 30 KTa.

Huntsman India has its facilities at Navi Mumbai and has been having a technical collaboration with Laffans for the past two years. India contributes to a little over 3% of its global revenue of USD 9.2 bln in 2010.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- India's second leading commodity bourse NCDEX is to launch futures trading in Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It has also decided to relaunch Brent crude oil futures with modified contract specification.

Futures contracts expiring in May, June, July and August of 2011 in PVC would be available for trading from April 4. Members (brokers) registered with the exchange are allowed to trade up to 20 KT, while that of individual can trade up to 5 KT. The unit of trading would be 5 tons and prices will be settled based on the last spot price of the day as polled by the Exchange on the last trading day of the contract.

MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's naphtha imports for the petrochemical sector rose 40 percent in March from the same month a year earlier, government figures showed on Monday.

Imports of naphtha for ethylene production amounted to 1.330.333 t last month, the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That compared with 943.241 t in the same month last year and 1.396.060 t in February.

MRC

(Fibre2fashion News Desk ) -- Alexandria-based Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company, along with two other firms, is setting up a petrochemical plant to produce 460 KTa of ethylene. Sidi Kerir will have a 20 percent stake in the joint venture which is expected to cost around USD 1.18 bln. The project is anticipated to be completed within three years.

Sidi Kerir is a producer of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE).


MRC