Russian PC market increased by 4% in January and February

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's market of polycarbonate (PC) increased by 4% to almost 16,000 tonnes in January and February 2014, compared to the same period last year, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Mostly it was due to the traditional reduction of PC exports in January and February to meet the stronger demand in the domestic market. At the same time, the volumes of imports and production remained at the same level.

Russia's PC exports were 2,600 tonnes in January and February 2014, down 19% year on year. At the same time, PC imports to Russia increased by 3% to 7,700 tonnes over the reported period. Russia's PC production in January and February 2014 was almost 12,000 tonnes, having remained at the last year's level.
The main consumers of polycarbonate in Russia are producers of PC sheets of water containers of more than 10 litres and producers of automotive components and mechanical engineering.

PC market is a promising and rapidly growing in Russia. Mostly this is due to the extrusion sector. Finished products made from extrusion PC grades are PC sheets, PC profiles, PC panels, which are increasingly used in construction and agriculture sectors. Demand for extrusion PC grades traditionally becomes significantly stronger in spring.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian producers significantly increased exports of polyethylene (PE) on the back of a weak seasonal demand in the domestic market and a high level of capacity utilisation. Russia's PE exports increased by 55% to 61,700 tonnes in January and February 2014, according to MRC DataScope.

The peak of PE sales occurred for February 2014, with 38,100 tonnes delivered (excluding exports to countries of Customs Union). Weak demand from domestic consumers and a high level of capacity utilisation made Russian producers increase their exports to foreign markets; exports became more profitable in February on the back of the rouble devaluation.

Main exports still occurred for low density polyethylene (LDPE). LDPE exports from Russia increased to 34,300 tonnes in January and February 2014, compared with 22,100 tonnes in January and February 2013. More than half of the total volume of exports sales accounted for LDPE by Tomskneftekhim (SIBUR) production.

Exports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) significantly increased to 20,600 tonnes in February this year, from 6,800 tonnes in January.
Expectedly, the main sales of HDPE to foreign markets occurred for Kazanorgsintez (12,800 tonnes) and Stavrolen (7,500 tonnes). Russia's exports of HDPE over the first two months 2014 grew by 56% to 27,400 tonnes.

There were practically no exports of other grades of polyethylene and ethylene polymers (linear polyethylene, ethylene vinyl acetate) because of small production volumes.

Russia's PE exports, in particular HDPE, are expected to decrease in March. Because of the accident at Stavrolen some Russian producers reported that they would reduced the volume of exports to balance the domestic market.

LDPE exports are also expected to decline in March, but not so significantly because of the scheduled maintenance works at Kazanorgsintez, the second largest producer in Russia, in April and May.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Production of polycarbonate (PC) in Russia totalled over the first two months of 2014 about 12,000 tonnes, which almost equals the same figure of last year, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Thus, the only national PC producer - Kazanorgsintez produced about 12,000 tonnes in January and February 2012. This year's output is at a similar level. Kazanorgsintez operated at its full capacity utilisation.

Extrusion grades - PC-007 and PC-005 - accounted for 68% of the total output in the production structure since the beginning of the year. The share of Kazanorgsintex's extrusion PC in the total production remained virtually unchanged year on year, which was due to the fact that this segment of the PC market is the most promising and rapidly growing because of the advanced construction technologies.

The following sectors are the main consumers of finished products from extruded PC: sheets, profiles and panels.
Thus, new converters constantly enter the market. The import duty for finished PC sheets is 8.8% in Russia. Therefore, it is more profitable to produce these products in the country.

Kazanorgsintez is the only domestic PC producer. The plant's annual production capacity is 65,000 tonnes. Kazanorgsintez is set to produce material mainly for the domestic market from January to May 2014.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy's Eni does not expect sanctions against Russia over its actions in Crimea to stop the oil and gas group importing Russian gas, said Upstreamonline, citing the company's chief executive.

On Monday, the United States and the EU imposed sanctions on a handful of officials from Russia and Ukraine accused of involvement in Moscow's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula. "Europe needs Russian gas," Paolo Scaroni told the BBC, adding that relations with Russia would continue as they were at present as far as gas supplies were concerned.

Scaroni said Eni had concluded talks with the previous Ukraine government over an exploration block for oil and gas in the waters off the Crimea.

"We are in the middle of being assigned a block without knowing who it belongs to," he said, adding the group had not yet made any bonus payment for the right to explore.

Asked if energy assets could be nationalised by Crimea, Scaroni said it was still early days. "But I don't think so," he said.

Eni, which has shale gas exploration rights in Ukraine, is one of the biggest gas clients of Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Italy, which imports around 90% of its gas needs, currently receives well over 50% of its imported gas from Russia.

We remind that Russia's intervention in Ukraine signals trouble for OAO Rosneft's bid to buy Morgan Stanley's oil-trading unit, according to people involved in the deal and others familiar with the U.S. government's approval process. The proposed acquisition by Russia's biggest oil producer, which is state-controlled, needs U.S. government approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment. CFIUS, a secretive government body, weighs national security risks and can sink deals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German specialty chemicals company Lanxess, the world’s largest synthetic rubber supplier, will raise its prices worldwide for its rubber chemicals with effect from April 1, 2014 due to higher raw material prices and unfavorable exchange rate effects, as per the company's press release.

"This is a good first measure to improve our margins - and bring them back up to an acceptable level," says Luis Lopez-Remon, Head of the Lanxess Rubber Chemicals business unit.

The adjustment will impact all product lines, including Vulkanox antidegradants, Vulkacit accelerators as well as specialty chemicals such as bonding agents (Cohedur), retarders (Vulkalent), plasticizers (Vulkanol), zinc oxides (Zinkoxyd aktiv) and DBD based peptizers (Renacit). The price increases will range from 0.10 EUR/kg to 0.70 EUR/kg (0.15 USD and 1.00 USD) depending on the product and region.

Lanxess rubber chemicals are mainly used in the manufacture of rubber products such as tires, hoses and sealing profiles as well as in the production of drive elements, e.g. timing belts or transmission belts.

As MRC informed previously, Lanxess and Korean Hankook Tire has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop synthetic rubber technologies for high-performance tire. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly study the development of new high-performance synthetic rubber grades and applications that increase the performance of tires from early stages of product development.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 9.1 billion in 2012. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC