Formosa Petrochemical Corp has reduced runs at its naphtha cracking complex

(Reuters) - Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp has reduced runs at its 2.93 mln tonnes per year (tpy) naphtha cracking complex to around 90-95 percent from full-tilt due to weak petrochemical margins, and is currently seeking lower spot volumes, traders said on Monday. Formosa, Asia's top naphtha buyer, is currently in the market seeking around 100 KT of spot naphtha for second-half May arrival. It is unclear how long Formosa, which needs an average of 600 KT of spot and term naphtha a month, will maintain the run cuts.


Prices of polyethylene or plastics, made mainly from ethylene, were not rising as fast as sellers had hoped to reflect the escalating naphtha costs.


MRC

Celanese declared force majeure on US vinyl acetate monomer

(ICIS) -- Celanese declared force majeure (FM) on US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) because of a disruption at a Texas plant of a critical supplier, the company told customers in a letter on Monday. Combined with another move by the company in Europe last month, Celanese FM declarations on VAM have covered much of the globe in the past three weeks.


Celanese told European customers in a letter dated 25 March, that a temporary disruption at its Nanjing, China, acetic acid plant had forced the extension of a previously announced China allocation and FM into the European market and Asia outside of China regions.


The latest FM, explained in a letter dated 18 April, said there had been an ⌠unexpected disruption in supply from a critical supplier at Celanese's VAM plant in Bay City.


The letter said the company was imposing an immediate 65% sales allocation for customers, with allocation levels based on the average of the last six months of purchases between October 2010 and March 2011.


US VAM's major feedstocks are acetic acid and ethylene. Celanese is one of the world's largest producers of acetic acid.


MRC

Asia ethyl acetate hits record high on strong feedstock costs, demand

(ICIS) -- Surging acetic acid feedstock costs and strong demand will likely continue to propel ethyl acetate (etac) spot prices higher in Asia and break the record high of USD 1.200/tonne (EUR840/tonne) set last week, market sources said on Tuesday. Last week's spot price, on a cost and freight (CFR) southeast (SE) Asia basis, was the highest since ICIS records for etac began in May 1996.


Spot etac prices have been steadily rising since January, gaining 14-20%, because of tight supply. This has been compounded by high prices of the feedstock acetic acid following production issues at a 1.2m tonne/year acetic acid plant in Nanjing, China, which is operated by global acetyls producer Celanese.


Acetic acid spot prices have risen by 52% from the start of the year to their highest levels in nearly three years, reaching USD 650-700/tonne CFR NE (northeast) Asia on 15 April, according to ICIS data.


With acetic acid feedstock values likely to remain bullish until Celanese's production problems can be resolved, possibly in mid-May, the upward trend in etac prices in Asia is expected to continue, market sources said.


MRC

Europe LDPE spot prices fall from record highs

(ICIS) -- Low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices in Europe have slipped from their record highs of above EUR 1.500/tonne (USD 2.174/tonne), but market players do not expect values to crash as crude oil and naphtha prices remain high, several sources said on Monday.


Spot LDPE prices are now at EUR 1.450-1.500/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), down from their record highs of EUR 1.500-1.530/tonne FD NWE, which were seen in some cases in March.


A couple of buyers even quoted some spot lots offered by European producers for April delivery at EUR 1.420/tonne FD NWE, but this was not as prevalent in the market.


Monthly LDPE prices are stable to slightly higher. Producers are aiming to recover the EUR 10/tonne increase in the April ethylene monomer price. While some buyers had been forced to accept a EUR10/tonne increase, others have simply refused to entertain any increases at all.


MRC

US propylene contracts for April will likely rise by 15 cents/lb

(ICIS) -- US propylene contracts for April will likely rise by 15 cents/lb (USD 331/tonne, EUR 228/tonne), market sources said on Friday, citing the initial contracts that have already settled at that level. The 20% increase, which stems from tight supply, puts polymer-grade propylene (PGP) at 87.50 cents/lb, topping the 85 cent/lb record settlement of July 2008. The 15 cent/lb jump puts chemical-grade propylene (CGP) at 86 cents/lb. According to sources, a number of contracts were agreed at those levels, but a full-market settlement was yet to be reached.


A significant April increase in propylene was widely expected because of sharply higher refinery-grade propylene (RGP) spot prices in recent weeks. Spot RGP is an indicator for trends on the contract side as the product accounts for around 60% of the US propylene market.


RGP for April was bid on Friday at 85 cents/lb, which is up from deals done at 71.50-72.00 cents/lb four weeks ago.


US producers had initially nominated increases of 15% for April propylene, but later withdrew the initiatives and pushed for a larger increase because of a continued uptrend in RGP.


MRC