China may impose anti-dumping duties on styrene monomer imports

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China said it was to look at imposing anti-dumping duties (ADDs) on styrene monomer imports from South Korea, as per Apic-online.

The proposed ADD was a result of a recent petition filed by Chinese producers to decrease competition from South Korea, sources said.

Market participants said despite news they were skeptical that ADDs would be imposed any time soon.

South Korea is the largest exporter of styrene monomer to China, shipping 1.23 million mt of styrene in 2016, or 35% of China's SM imports.

For comparison, China's domestic SM production stands at about 8.39 million mt/year, according to industry sources.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has imposed anti-dumping duties (ADD) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins imported from Canada, China, India and Oman.
MRC

Dow and DuPont merger secures US DOJ antitrust approval

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical companies DuPont and the Dow Chemical Company have reached a proposed agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division that will enable the firms to advance the proposed merger of equals, said Chemicals-technology.

The companies received the approval on condition that DuPont will divest certain parts of its crop protection portfolio. Dow will therefore sell its global Ethylene Acrylic Acid copolymers and ionomers business.

Divestments in the proposed agreement are consistent with commitments already made to obtain the European Commission’s (EC) regulatory approval.

Dow's chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Andrew Liveris said: "With today’s DOJ clearance, we have taken a significant step forward in bringing together these two iconic enterprises, and in the subsequent intended separation into three leading, independent innovation-based science companies that will generate significant benefits for all stakeholders."

"We are on track to close our procompetitive merger in a manner that maintains the strategic logic and value creation potential of the transaction."

The proposed agreement with the DOJ is subject to court approval. The companies are not required to make any additional divestitures and no additional approvals are required in the US to close the merger.

DuPont's chair and CEO Ed Breen said: "With this review completed, we are on track to close our procompetitive merger in a manner that maintains the strategic logic and value creation potential of the transaction."

The all-stock merger will have a combined market capitalisation of nearly USD130bn. The transaction is expected to generate cost synergies of approximately USD3bn and growth synergies of around USD1bn.

Dow and DuPont have already secured clearance in several jurisdictions, including approvals in the US, Europe, Brazil and China. Currently, both the companies are working constructively with regulators to receive clearance from the remaining jurisdictions. The companies anticipate the merger will be completed in August this year with the intended spin-offs to occur within 18 months of closing.
MRC

PVC imports to Ukraine fell by 20% in Jan-May 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased in the first five months of 2017 by 20% year on year, totalling 39,400 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's SPVC imports to Ukraine grew to 11,400 tonnes from 7,100 tonnes in April. Local companies partially offset a shortage of resin from European producers by higher shipments from the US. Overall SPVC imports were about 39,400 tonnes in January-May 2017, compared to 49,200 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for suspension from local pipes and window profile producers subsided significantly.

The structure of PVC imports into Ukraine by countries looked the following way over the stated period.


Last month's SPVC imports from the United States rose to 6,400 tonnes from 3 tonnes in April, local companies were forced to increase their purchasing of North American resin because of the restrictions of European producers in the past three months. Imports of North American resin totalled 13,100 tonnes in January-May of 2017 versus 31,200 tonnes a year earlier.

May shipments of European PVC to the Ukrainian market remained at the level of April and were 3,100 tonnes. Overall imports of European PVC to Ukraine totalled 18,500 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 13,900 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's imports of Russian SPVC grew to 1,900 tonnes from 761 tonnes in April. Despite the introduction of a ban on shipments of resin from two producers, other manufacturers still managed to increase their presence in the local market. Shipments of Russian resin were 7,600 tonnes in the first five months of 2017, compared to 3,800 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

Dow, 1QBit announce collaboration agreement on quantum computing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company and 1QB Information Technologies (1QBit) announced a collaboration agreement to develop quantum computing tools for the chemicals and materials science technology spaces, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two companies will accelerate the deployment of quantum computing across a range of applications relevant to the chemical sector.

"Our preliminary work with 1QBit has been very encouraging," said A.N. Sreeram, senior vice president, R&D, and chief technology officer for Dow. "Together with 1QBit, we have achieved ‘proof of concept’ for the application of quantum computing in areas relevant to Dow. With this new, multi-year agreement, we intend to develop a robust capability in the quantum computing space, further advancing our world-class innovation capabilities and maximizing shareholder return."

The collaboration will augment Dow’s discovery process by building fundamental understanding of new chemicals and materials. The combination of next-generation computational methodologies with experimental design will drive new acceleration of product and process development.

"We are pleased to be working with Dow on leading-edge quantum computing software development for the material sciences," said Andrew Fursman, chief executive officer for 1QBit. "Dow brings a powerful science machine and global market access in the chemical and materials sectors. We have been very impressed with the quality of the opportunity uncovered in the initial phases of this collaboration."

Over the last four years, 1QBit has developed new methods for machine learning, sampling, and optimization based on reformulating problems to meet the unique requirements of interfacing with quantum computers and leveraging their capabilities.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
MRC

Index of chemical production in Russia grew by 7.5% in January - May 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products increased by 7.5% in the first five months of the year.
The largest increase in output accounted for the benzene and caustic soda, as per the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals grew by 9.7% from May 2016. Total production of key chemicals in the country grew by 7.5% in the stated period.

May production of ethylene was 260,000 tonnes compared with 234,000 tonnes in April on the back of scheduled maintenance works at Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen. Overall, over 1.267 m tonnes of this olefin were manufactured in the first five month of 2017, up by 9.2% year on year.

Last month's production of benzene grew to 114,000 tonnes from 105,000 tonnes in April on the back of shutdown at two productions. Overall output of this product exceeded 597,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 12.5%year on year. The main increase in production was provided by Angarsk Polymers Plant.

May production of xylenes was 51,400 tonnes, compared to 43,600 tonnes a month earlier. January-May output of xylenes was 241,600 tonnes, down by 3.3% year on year.

May production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 108,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance), up by 9.2% year on year. Overall output of caustic soda grew to 514,800 tonnes in January-May 2017, up by 11.9% year on year. In February 2016, due to force majeure for ethylene supply, SayanskKhimplast was forced to shut down its caustic soda production, the outage continued until July.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 1.91 mln tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients), up 5.5% from April.
Nevertheless, Russian plants produced over 9.0 mln tonnes of fertilizers in the first five months of 2017, up by 9.9% year on year.

Production of all types of fertilizers increased, with potash fertilizers, the output of which grew by 16%, accounted for the greatest increase.

MRC