Season of strong demand continued in the Ukrainian EPS boards market in late October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A season of strong demand continued in the Ukrainian EPS boards market. Demand for finished products was by an average stronger from major converters than that from small- and medium-sized ones last month, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

There was high price competition on the back of the saturation of the domestic expandable polystyrene (EPS) market. It was difficult for small EPS traders to compete with large ones. Small delays in shipments of Russian material from the warehouse in Voronezh did not have any impact on the market as a whole.

Prices of Chinese and Russian EPS were in the range of UAH42,500-45,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT, last week. Demand for material at its upper price range was weak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A Dow Chemical plant near Plaquemine, Louisiana, in the US experienced an explosion on Sunday but there were no casualties, reported NCT with reference to the company's statement in a Facebook update.

"Dow Louisiana Operations had a vessel that ruptured at the site. The noise was heard in the community. There are no injuries on site," the company said on its Facebook page.

"There is no ongoing emergency at the site. The site is stable and we are in recovery mode at our Glycol 2 unit. The rest of our production units continue to run safely and reliably," it added.

Dow Chemicals operations in Louisiana include the integrated manufacturing facility near Plaquemine and brine operations in Grand Bayou.

The Louisiana Operations has 23 production units manufacturing more than 50 different intermediate and specialty chemical products, such as chlorine and PE, that are used to produce cosmetics, detergents, solvents, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, plastics for a variety of packaging, automotive parts, and electronics components.

As MRC informed earlier, Dow Chemical shut its ethylene cracker No. 3 at its Plaquemine, Louisiana site with the annual production of 758,000 mt for expansion from mid-September to end-November 2016. After the restart this cracker can produce by 250,000 mt of ethylene more than before.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has undertaken an unplanned shutdown at its Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) unit in Singapore, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the company has halted operations at the plant owing to shortage of feedstock on October 23, 2019. The exact duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Jurong Island, Singapore, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation experienced an emergency incident at approximately 12:00 noon Central time on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Celanese Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas. On-site emergency personnel extinguished the fire quickly, and appropriate regulatory and first responder agencies were notified and mobilized at the scene to support the incident. All Celanese, site partner and contractor employees are accounted for and no injuries were reported. No shelter in place was issued, and the emergency was cleared at 4:30 p.m. local time.

According to MRC's DataScope report, September EVA imports to Russia fell by 22,7% year on year to 3,420 tonnes from 4,430 tonnes in September 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-September 2019 by 18,2% year on year to 29,190 tonnes (35,690 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018).

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, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Meide Petrochemical Co. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Packing Group Company Ltd, will utilize the Honeywell Process Reliability Advisor for prescriptive monitoring of on-purpose propylene at its new UOP C3 Oleflex unit in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, as per Apic-online.

The plant is designed to convert propane into 660,000 t/y of propylene. Status of the facility could not be confirmed.

Honeywell Process Reliability Advisor continuously feeds plant data through Honeywell UOP process and fault models with software to provide key performance information and process recommendations.

"The service helps plants run more smoothly and de-tects problems before they can affect production and plant profitability," Honeywell noted.

As MRC informed before, Honeywell's UOP already has business ties with Fujian Meide. Earlier, in 2011, it licensed its C3 Oleflex process technology to Fujian Meide to produce 660,000 metric tons of propylene annually. The new unit is expected to produce the same annual quantity starting 2015.

Propylene is a feedstock for the production of PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Honeywell is a global diversified technology and manufacturing company with a wide range of aerospace products and services, control, sensing and security technologies for buildings, homes and industry, turbochargers, automotive products, specialty chemicals, electronic and advanced materials, process technology for refining and petrochemicals and energy efficient products and solutions for homes, business and transportation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has begun the commissioning works of its new high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in La Porte, Texas, reported NCT with reference to the company's statement during an earnings conference call.

The brand new plant will utilize LyondellBasell’s patented Hyperzone technology to produce 500,000 tons/year of HDPE. Sales volumes from the plant are expected to increase during the first quarter of 2020.

The cost of the project is estimated at USD900 million, the company reported.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2019, LyondellBasell sarted up a new, fifth production line at its polypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Knapsack, Germany capable of producing 25 kt/yr. With this, capacity of the Knapsack facility is over 200 kt/yr, making the site "the world’s largest polypropylene compounding facility".

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's September estimated HDPE consumption fell to 70,570 tonnes from 108,320 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their output due to maintenance works, whereas imports were high partially because of an increase in US shipments. The estimated HDPE consumption in Russia totalled 862,170 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 7% year on year. HDPE imports increased by 47%, whereas production dropped by 5% due to a long period of maintenance works at three production capacities.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC