China's Keyuan Petrochemicals provides update on first SBS production line

(ir.stockpr) -- Keyuan Petrochemicals Inc., an independent manufacturer and supplier of various petrochemical products in China, today announced that one of its production lines for Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene ("SBS") has commenced commercial production after successful trial production and testing in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Company began construction of its new 70,000 ton SBS production facility in September 2010 and completed construction in September 2011. After several trials and adjustments, one SBS production line began commercial production in December 2011. The Company produced and sold approximately 2,733 MT and 2,623 MT of SBS in the fourth quarter, respectively.

"We are pleased with the initial results from our new SBS production lines," said Mr. Chunfeng Tao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Keyuan Petrochemicals Inc. "We have shipped products to 20 customers and are in active discussions with several more. With solid demand for SBS in China and abroad, we expect to quickly ramp production and sales throughout this year."

MRC

(plasticsinfomart) -- Vehicle interior systems supplier Faurecia (Nanterre, France) and Korea's LG Hausys (Seoul), a world leader in the development and production of specialty decoration materials and films for the housing, electronic and automotive industries, have signed a strategic partnership to jointly develop next-generation vehicle interior decoration films.

Through this partnership, Faurecia Interior Systems will expand its product and technology offerings to include decoration films, enabling it to cover a broad range of interior decoration solutions, including paint, real metal, fibers, wood and finally films. This partnership is aimed at offering to automakers the highest perceived quality complete portfolio of film decoration products and processes.

MRC

(plasticsinfomart) -- ABS sentiment is bullish in both Italy and Turkey as stronger global trends and steadily rising feedstock costs are pushing prices higher in spite of buyers' resistance to firmer offer levels as per the pricing service of ChemOrbis. Buyers in both countries are bracing for further price hike announcements for February as feedstock prices have recorded sharp increases over the month and producers are struggling to achieve acceptable operating margins.

Players in Turkey reported that the country's ABS market was quiet over the past week as many sellers had already finished their January sales and most producers have yet to nominate their February prices.

⌠We believe that ABS prices will record significant increases next month, reported a trader based in Turkey. ⌠Upstream costs are putting strong upward pressure on prices.

However, demand is not all that great and will limit the size of next month's increases as buyers will most likely show resistance to sellers' initial price levels, the trader added.

A similar trend is also in place in Italy, where significant price increases are said to be passing for January even though demand is not said to be very encouraging. ⌠We had pre-bought some material in late December and have therefore been in no hurry to purchase this month, a trader reported. ⌠European sellers are seeking large price increases for this month which may pass as non-European import prices are not very competitive, the trader added.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Spot prices of petrochemicals in Asia may get a good nudge up following an expected virtual halt in trades next week as the region celebrates the Lunar New Year, with most market players hoping for a strong pick-up in buying activities.

Prices of some petrochemical products in the region have either been falling or trading sideways since the start of the year, as demand traditionally weakens in the weeks leading to the Lunar New Year celebration, which is happening a bit early in 2012.

Some propylene sellers in northeast Asia expect prices to move up, to track the rising values of feedstock naphtha.
An expected tightness in regional supply because of a slew of cracker turnarounds due in March should also give propylene prices a further boost, market sources said.

Spot propylene prices were quoted at USD 1,350-1,400/tonne (EUR 1,040-1,078/tonne) CFR NE Asia at midday on Friday, while naphtha values were at USD 960.50-962.50/tonne CFR Japan.

In the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) market, some sellers have taken a similar stance on transactions.

Expectations that China, the biggest petrochemical importer in Asia, will adopt a more loose monetary policy going forward will boost trade in the commodities market.
The upbeat sentiment that the domestic credit crunch in the world's second biggest economy will ease was reflected in trades at the linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) futures market at the Dalian Commodities Exchange this week.

⌠Everything is so uncertain and we are not sure whether demand for synthetic rubber will rebound after the Lunar New Year, a Chinese synthetic rubber producer said. Synthetic rubber producers in Asia are in a bind because of high production costs caused by soaring prices of feedstock butadiene (BD) and their inability to hike product prices amid strong resistance from downstream tyre makers.


Soaring feedstock BD costs have climbed to USD 3,100/tonne CFR NE Asia and have eroded the margins of synthetic rubber producers in Asia.


However, the downstream tyre producers are also feeling the squeeze from falling tyre export sales.
A number of small and mid-sized tyre producers in China are expected to have an extended Lunar New Year holiday this year because of weak market conditions.

China is a major tyre production centre for the global tyre market.


MRC

(chemmonitor) -- Honam Petrochemical (South Korea) will soon finalize its polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) projects.

The manufacturer intends to exercise test runs at the new units in about two months. The facilities are situated in Yeosu.

A nameplate capacity of the PP plant will be 0.3 million tonnes per year. The HDPE unit, meantime, will produce 0.25 million tonnes per year.

The manufacturer already runs PP and HDPE manufacturing at the locality.



Honam Petrochemical is a Korea-based manufacturer of petrochemical products. The Company's products consist of monomers and polymers. The monomers include styrene monomer, butadiene, ethylene oxide adduct (EOA), ethylene glycol (EG), methyl methacrylate (MMA), and benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX).

The polymers include high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), low density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), linear low density polyethylene and polycarbonate (PC). It also provides by products. The Company acquired 72.32% of Titan Chemicals Corp. Bhd, a Malaysia-based company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of polyethylenes and polypropylenes, on November 9, 2010.

MRC