Poliom resumed PP shipments to domestic market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Omsk plant of polypropylene (PP) Poliom (part of Titan group) resumed shipments of polymer to the domestic market on Monday, 17 February, said MRC analysts with reference to the company's sourses.

On February 9, Poliom had to suspend its PP production because of abnormal cold. The plant resumed PP production on 14 Friday, after the conducted engineering works, and the company started to ship its products to the domestic market on Monday, 17 February.

Poliom produced about 13,400 tonnes of PP in January 2014. The overall PP output totalled slightly more than 116,000 tonnes in less than a year of operations in 2013.

LLC "Poliom" was founded on 14 May, 2005 for the construction of the polypropylene (PP) plant within the petrochemical cluster project "PARK: regional agro-industrial clusters." The plant was built on Basell technology, the supplier of technological equipment was Tecnimont. The product range consists of 78 PP grades (homopolymer PP, statistical and block copolymers).Полио
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The devaluation of the Russian rouble and strong prices in the foreign markets led to a significant reduction in the imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in January, which decreased to 11,800 tonnes, down 18% compared with January 2013, according to MRC DataScope report.

Such a significant decline in imports resulted from higher prices of linear polyethylene (devaluation of the rouble against the dollar and the rise in prices in foreign markets) and weak demand for finished film. The main reduction in imports occurred for film LLDPE.

Key consumers of LLDPE - producers of films, reduced January purchases to 11,000 tonnes, from 12,700 tonnes in January 2013; in December 2013 this figure was 17,000 tonnes. Sharp rise in LLDPE price made many converters to significantly reduce the volume of purchases if not suspended it.

Offer price for butene LLDPE with MFI = 1 were in the range of Rb64,000-69,000/tonne in December 2013 CPT Moscow, including VAT, then in February of this year its price jumped to Rb71,000/tonne or higher. Some suppliers reported significant delays in payments for the already delivered LLDPE.

Given the limited working capital, converters are unable to pay bills for the supplied products in time. Price for stretch films began falling, despite the growth of the main feedstock. Some market participants said price of the finished product was down by Rb2,000-4,000/tonne from the feedstock level.

All of these factors - limited working capital, strong polymer prices, weak prices for finished products - will reduce LLDPE imports to Russia in the next couple of months. As reported previously, LLDPE imports to Russia in 2013 exceeded 209,000 tonnes, up 9% from the level in 2012.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Daqing Refining & Chemical is likely to restart a polypropylene (PP) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be restarted this weekend. It was shut for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Heilongjiang province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, Daqing Refining & Chemical already shut its PP plant for maintenance turnaround on August 9, 2013, for around 45 days.

Daqing Petrochemical, which is a main buyer of feedstock LPG from Daqing Refining & Chemical, shut its 600,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker for turnaround at the same time. Daqing Refining & Chemical has an 8m tonne/year refinery in northeast China’s Heilongjiang, with its secondary conversion capacity reaching 6m tonnes/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rhein Chemie is introducing Rhenowave, a new concept for controlling the quality of rubber compounds, reported the company on its site.

The compounds are analyzed during extrusion (for example during straining or shaping) in a pulse transmission process with the help of ultrasound waves. Nanoscale fillers such as carbon black and silica have particularly good damping properties for soundwaves in the range of 1 MHz to 20 MHz, so that the filler content can be determined with a precision of up to 1 phr. Unlike with many other analytical methods that use electromagnetic waves, carbon black does not disturb this process. As a result, even black compounds can be volumetrically analyzed.

Using a marker with a high density, e.g. zinc oxide, the distribution of Rhenogran AP additionally can be monitored. Rhenogran AP products are customer-specific additive packages made from crosslinking chemicals, and are polymer-bound, dust-free and easily dispersible.

Rhenowave is fast, both used alone or in combination with Rhenogran AP. Following the exit of the compound from the extruder, an assessment of the compound quality is performed within a few seconds (inline control). Where array technology is used, up to 100% of the compound can be analyzed. Small areas where compound quality is insufficient are recognized immediately rather than later in the product. Rhenowave can be used in a production scale of 1,000 kg/h and it is absolutely non-destructive.

As MRC wrote earlier, last summer, Lanxess’ Rhein Chemie business unit opened a new production facility at the Porto Feliz site in Brazil. There, Rhein Chemie produces Rhenoshape high-performance curing bladders, which are used in tire manufacture. Around 170,000 bladders can be produced annually in the new facility. The new plant is equiped with state-of-the-art production technology. The latest findings in bladder technology have been implemented.

Besides, at its new site in Lipezk, which was opened on 4 July, 2013, Rhein Chemie produces rubber additives and release agents for the Russian and CIS markets, especially for the automotive and tire industries.

Rhein Chemie develops, produces and sells additives, specialty chemicals and service products for the rubber, lubricant and plastics industries. In fiscal 2012 Rhein Chemie achieved sales of EUR344 million and has approximately 1,100 employees worldwide. The company is headquartered in Mannheim, Germany and has production facilities in Europe, Asia and North and South America. Rhein Chemie is a wholly owned subsidiary of the specialty chemicals group Lanxess, Leverkusen, Germany.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Offer price for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Kazakhstan increased by Tenge61 500/tonne (up 20%) on the back of sharp depreciation of the local currency, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Last week Central bank of Kazakhstan stopped supporting national currency and the interference in the formation of the exchange rate of tenge.

Without the support from the Central bank of Kazakhstan, exchange rate of tenge against US dollar fell by 20% from Tenge 155 to Tenge 185.4 for USD1.

Last Monday price for Chinese PET was heard in the range Tenge 303,000-309,000/tonne CPT Astana, including VAT. Converters increased PET price to Tenge365,000-370,000/tonne CPT Astana, including VAT.

Sales of PET were frozen, as converters preferred to use their stock inventories, waiting for the stabilization of the financial market.

Market participants expect buying activity to be sluggish in the rest of February.
MRC