Celanese increases August prices of vinyl acetate-based emulsions in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced it will increase the price of vinyl acetate-based emulsions sold in Asia, according to the company's press release.

PVAc homopolymer and vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) emulsions will increase by CNY200/tonne for China and USD30/tonne for the rest of Asia effective August 18, 2014, or as contracts allow.

This increase is in addition to the price increase announced on July 15 and effective July 18, 2014.

This price increase affects all applications including, but not limited to, adhesives, paints and coatings, building and construction, glass fiber, carpet and paper.

As MRC wrote previously, in July 2014, Celanese Corporation raised its price of vinyl acetate-based emulsions sold in Asia, as follows: PVAc homopolymer and EVA emulsions - by CNY 200/tonne for China and USD30/tonne - for the rest of Asia effective July 18, 2014, or as contracts allow.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,400 employees worldwide and had 2013 net sales of USD6.5 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Demand for polycarbonate (PC) for blowmoulding decreased in Russia by 33% in the first seven months of the year, as per MRC DataScope report.

The main reason for weaker consumption was price rise in imported material. Domestic prices for imported PC grew significantly on the back of the rouble depreciation, which began in January-February of this year. Main suppliers of PC were LG Chem, Samyang Corporation, Mitsubishi Engineering Plastics with market shares of 34%, 31% and 28%, respectively. Imports of European PC did not exceeded 20 tonnes over the reported period.

Sector of blowmoulding in Russia is completely depends on import. The average monthly consumption is about 200-220 tonnes.

In recent years, converters have preferred Asian material against the European PC, because its lower prices and easy availability. There is no shortage of PC in the Russian market felt even at the peak of the season because of the supply of Asian PC.
MRC

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s PetroRabigh is gradually resuming production after a technical failure at one of its units forced a shutdown of some operations on Saturday, the petrochemicals producer said in a bourse statement, as per Plastemart.

The unit that failed, which handles air supply for control systems, has now been restarted and other units are gradually coming back online, with a full return to normal operations planned for this Friday. It did not give further technical details.

The disruption will cause PetroRabigh’s third-quarter profit to fall by nearly SR30 million, the statement added.

As MRC reported previously, Petro Rabigh had signed an agreement with Tasnee and Saudi Advanced Industries (SAIC) for the supply of propylene oxide to the joint venture for the production of polyether polyol. The plant is located in Rabiga, in the west of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. The production launch was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2013.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonsne of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased by 1% to 118,800 tonnes in the first seven months of this year. Key customers - producers of films kept last year's level, while demand in the rotational moulding sector grew by a third, according to MRC DataScope report.

LLDPE imports in Russia reached 19,300 tonnes in July. The growth in demand occurred for the producers rotational moulding products, whereas the key consumers of LLPE - producers of films, kept last year's level.

Structure of the consumption of LLDPE was as follows.

Russia's imports of film LLDPE grew to 16,500 tonnes in July, compared with 15,400 tonnes in June on the back of an increase in purchases from producers of stretch film. Russia's LLDPE imports were 104,600 tonnes in the first seven months of this year, which is actually equal compared with the same time of 2013.

July imports of LLDPE for rotational moulding fell to 1,300 tonnes, from 1,600 tonnes in June. Russia's imports of LLDPE for rotational moulding in the first seven months of the year were 7,400 tonnes, up 34% year on year. Key suppliers in this sector were two Asian producers: Lotte Chemical and SCG Chemicals.

Russia's imports of LLDPE into other sectors (lamination, cable extrusion, compounding, extrusion of pipes, etc.) declined to 6,800 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, compared with 7,300 tonnes year on year. Imports of LLDPE are expected to decline further in August because of reduced export quotas from the Middle East producers, in particular for the production of irrigated polyethylene stretch films.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poliom (part of Titan Group), one of the largest Russian polypropylene (PP) producer, has shut down its production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Poliom, Russia's third largest PP producer, stopped its production for a scheduled maintenance yesterday, 11 August. The outage will last at least two weeks. The plant's production capacity is 210,000 tons of PP per year.

As reported earlier, Ufaorgsintez also plans to shut down its PP production on 15 August, as part of the overhaul at the plant.

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 opening ceremony was held on 25 April 2013. The product range consists of 100 PP grades (homopolymer PP, statistical and block copolymers). In April 2014, the production capacity of Omsk PP Plant reached 210,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year.
MRC