In Russia the prices of LDPE still grow

MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) - A tighten supply of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the Russian market and the oncoming stops for scheduled turnaround continue to push the prices up. Next week the prices are expected to rise further, according to a ICIS-MRC Price report.

In mid-March Russian producers announced an increase in contract prices of LDPE in the domestic market under pressure from rising oil prices. This week the spot prices of low-density polyethylene in Russia increased on the back of growth in demand, scheduled stops on turnaround, and traffic difficulties as a result of spring floods.

Kazanorgsintez, Russia's largest producer, plans to stop its capacity of LDPE on a scheduled turnaround for a month on April 14. As a result, the company substantially limited the quotas for the supply of polyethylene to the domestic market in April. Ufaorgsintez plans to stop the capacities on scheduled turnaround in early May. At the same time in March, because of a lack of ethylene, the capacities of high-pressure polyethylene in Ufa are loaded on average by 80%. There are disruptions in the supply of PE to the domestic market.

From the mid-April the traffic of freight transport will be limited, which affects the cost of delivery of polyethylene and can cause disruptions in the supply.

This week all these factors influence the spot market of polyethylene in Russia. The price quotations of 158-LDPE reached Rb59,000-61,500/tonne, including VAT, CPT Moscow. The material for the production of shrinkable film is offerred on average for Rb60,000-63,000/tonne, including VAT, CPT Moscow. The price spread is fairly big in the market. The market is in anticipation of April, the new prices from producers and trafic difficulties.


MRC

(nctww) -- Honam Petrochemical is operating its 1 mln tpa cracking complex at Daesan at around 90% of its capacity following mechanical trouble linked to a compressor.

It is expected that the South Korean could maintain the run cuts until the cracker goes into debottlenecking work beginning around the middle of April to raised capacity to 1.05 mln tpa. Honam operates a 750,000 tpa cracking complex in Yeosu that has been shut in early March for 40 days maintenance and expansion that will boost its annual capacity to 1 million.

These shutdowns coincide with Japanese Showa Denko's emergency shutdown of operations at its 695,000 tpa cracking complex on March 15 after a cooling unit burst. Market players opine that any loss of demand in naphtha caused by these setbacks would prove temporary as Honam would return to with stronger demand due to its expanded capacity.
MRC

(amcor) -- Amcor Rigid Plastics, the world's leading producer of rigid plastic packaging, has announced a major expansion of extrusion blow molded PP bottle capacity in the Midwest, Southwest, and Canada in response to strong market demand for packaging for food and nutritional supplements.

The multi-million-dollar expansion at production facilities in Batavia, Ill., Fort Worth, Texas, and
Brampton, Ontario, also enables Amcor to shift its manufacturing footprint closer to key customers to deliver key
sustainability advantages including improved logistics and reduced transportation costs.

The new capacity is primarily for production of multilayer polypropylene (PP) containers - a product line acquired
in August 2010 from Ball Plastics Packaging Americas - along with HDPE containers with PCR content for
personal care and household uses. "Since the acquisition, we've taken a business rich in know-how and
innovative technology to a new level," said Laurel Spencer, Vice President of marketing for Amcor Rigid Plastics
North America, Diversified Products.

"Our strategy is to invest in new manufacturing to support growth in leading markets while meeting the needs of our customers in these key regions."

MRC

(polyestertime) -- Porex Corp. of Fairburn, Ga., introduced its antimicrobial Barrier Technology-brand alloy containing a porous base polymer and the chemical antiseptic chlorhexidine. Porex intends to start performance testing with a
medical-device maker en route to commercial sales, said William Midgette, president and CEO.

The microbicidal media kills microbes in liquid and gas streams on contact and can be integrated into porous
media for venting, filtrating, wicking and diffusing applications.

Barrier Technology addresses increasingly more-specific demands posed by infections, and questions about the
level of effectiveness of current technologies including silver ion-based antimicrobial agents, said Rusty Martin,
Porex global manager of advanced solutions.

Hospitals want an alternative to antibiotics in treating infections. Since 2010, Porex has invested several
hundred thousand dollars and the time of a dozen employees in pursuing the Barrier Technology concept.
MRC

(polyestertime) -- Danone has followed Coca-Cola in partnering with bio-technology developer Avantium, who will produce ecofriendly bottles for the global drinks manufacturer.

The partnership between Avantium and Danone Research will see bottles produced from polyethylene furanoate
(PEF), a 100% biobased alternative to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for use by Danone in its bottled water.
Avantium did not disclose the scale or timeline of water bottle production for Danone, but the news comes
months after Coca-Cola agreed a contract with Avantium as one of three research firms looking at replacing
purified terephtalic acid (PTA) in its eco-friendly PlantBottle with plant-based materials.

PEF is made using Avantium's YXY technology, which converts carbohydrates from plants, grains, energy crops,
lignocellulosic matter, waste streams, waste paper or agricultural residues, into a variety of bio-based polymers.
The bio-sourced material can deliver superior light weighting, barrier and thermal properties versus conventional
PET technology, according to the Netherlands-based company.
MRC