Styron increase polycarbonate prices in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styron Europe and its affiliate companies in Europe announced price increases for all CALIBRE polycarbonate (PC) and EMERGE polycarbonate and blends products, reported the company on its official site.

Effective as of March 7, or as contract terms allow, the prices for these products will rise by EUR270/tonne.

Over the last year, the PC industry has experienced extremely low margins that are no longer sustainable. In order to restore margins to an acceptable level, Styron is increasing the price of its polycarbonate products to catch up with the recent and continuous cost increases.

As MRC wrote previously, last October, Styron announced that it was going to adopt a new pricing approach following significant shifts in supply and demand in the polystyrene (PS) market. The main reason of the new pricing approach is the closure of European PS plants, which might result in 10% reduction of active production capacity in Europe.

Styron is a leading global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, dedicated to collaborating with customers to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions. Styron's technology solutions are used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, commercial transportation, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Styron had approximately USD 6 billion in revenue in 2011, with 20 manufacturing sites around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Teknor Apex Company has introduced two PVC elastomer compounds for jacketing of industrial and heavy-duty cables. They exhibit flexibility even at very low temperatures and provide a property profile comparable to more costly high-performance materials, according to Plastemart.

The new compounds, Flexalloy 9611-76 and 9612-75, have property profiles that compare well with those of the rubber, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and other high-performance thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) used in these cables, yet they are more cost-effective, according to Mike Patel, industry manager for the Vinyl Division of Teknor Apex.

Typical Types CIC and TC uses are in the petrochemical, pulp and paper, steel, cement, and mining industries.

We remind that, as MRC informed previosly, last autumn Teknor Apex restructured and expanded its portfolio of engineering thermoplastic (ETP) compounds for use by European processors, offering products ranging from general-purpose formulations to a wealth of specialty modified grades, and now including many polyamide (PA) compounds developed in the USA for automotive applications.

Teknor Apex is one of the world's leading custom compounders headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA. The company produces PA compounds in the UK, the U.S.A., and Singapore. Teknor Apex is one of the world"s leaders of specialty PVC compounds which are used in a wide range of applications from wire and cable to automotive, medical, consumer and industrial products. The company also produces thermoplastic elastomers, nylon, bioplastics, chemicals, specialty compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) - Last week's prices of Chinese and Korean PET granulate remained stable, while the cost of the feedstock - purified terephthalic acid (PTA), monoethylene glycol (MEG) and paraxylene are going downl, according to MRC Price Report.

Last week, the adjustment of feedstock prices did not affect the price of PET granulate. Despite the decline in prices of PTA by USD15-19/tonne, MEG by USD30-33/tonne, the price of bottle PET in China and South Korea remained at the same level. The range of prices of Chinese and Korean PET granulate was voiced at USD1,560-1,600/tonne, FOB.

Spot prices of aromatic hydrocarbons have also decreased on the back of decreasing prices of oil. Last week's prices of paraxylene fell by USD21-25/tonne.

Due to the expectation of high seasonal demand producers of PET granulate will try to keep prices at current levels, because of low margins, the source said. At the same time, another trader believes that this week the Asian makers of PET would cut the prices slightly. According to a trader, Asian suppliers of granulate will cut the export price of bottle PET on average by USD10/tonne.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Low seasonal demand and limited working capital keep the prices of PVC in the Russian market stable. Some Russian makers have already announced the rollover of February prices of PVC for March, according to a ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The demand for PVC in the Russian market is still a fairly low on the back of seasonal factors. Many converters traditionally have problems with working capital in the winter months. The sales in the sector of profiled moldings is better than last year, although some converters said that sales are below their targets.

Russian producers keep a high level of capacity utilization, imports are higher than last year. All these factors keep prices of PVC in the Russian market stable, despite the rise in prices in foreign markets.

The negotiations on Russian PVC contract prices for March begins on Monday. Some converters report that they could get February prices of Russian resin for March. Part of converters reported that Russian producers aimed to raise prices.

The contract prices of Russian PVC for March are voiced at Rb45,500-46,500/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, for the resin to the point K = 64/67.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In January 2013, sales of Ukrainian titanium dioxide (TiO2) to the foreign markets rose by 3.4% to 10,200 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

The share of export shipments of "Crimean Titan" titanium dioxide made around 77%. Last month "Crimean Titan" exported 7,874 tonnes of TiO2.

Exports of Sumykhimprom TiO2 made 2,300 tonnes, accounting for 22% of the total sales of titanium dioxide by Ukrainian producers to the foreign markets.

MRC analysts report that the largest sales market of the Crimean TiO2 is Turkey. Most of Sumykhimprom production has been exported to Russia.

In 2012, the total exports of Ukrainian titanium dioxide amounted to 135,700 tonnes. In 2011, Ukrainian producers of titanium dioxide exported 138,900 tonnes of TiO2. Last year the fall in shipments was due to a general decline in global consumption of titanium dioxide in the main processing sectors of the material.

MRC