Ukraine increases imports of Nizhnekamskneftekhim GPPS and HIPS in Jan-Feb 2020 by 14%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to Ukraine rose in the first two months of 2020 by 14% year on year to 1,800 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This figure was at 1,580 tonnes in January-February 2019.


The share of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's material grew to 57% in the overall structure of imports to the Ukrainian market for the first two months of 2020 from 40% in January-February 2019.

February imports of Russian material increased by 57% to 1,100 tonnes from 700 tonnes in January 2020, imports were at 920 tonnes in February 2019. The share of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS and HIPS was 65% in February versus 39% a year ealrier.

Overall imports of these polystyrene grades into the country fell in the first two months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 3,140 tonnes from 3,950 tonnes in January-February 2019. The share of Iranian material in the total imports rose to 20% (620 tonnes) from 6% (250 tonnes) a year earlier, whereas the share of deliveries from Hungary grew to 19% (590 tonnes) from 10% (390 tonnes). Germany, one of the last year's largest importers, have not shipped material to the region since the beginning of this year.

MRC

Prices of European PVC fall by EUR65-80/tonne for CIS markets

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for April shipments to the CIS countries began last week. Ethylene prices fell significantly in Europe this month, however, European producers intend to limit the reduction in export PVC prices for April, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The April contract price of ethylene was agreed down by EUR200/tonne from the previous month, which theoretically allows to talk about a reduction of EUR100/tonne in net cost of PVC. However, European producers do not intend to make a proportional reduction in PVC export prices, aiming to maintain the necessary margin of polymer production. A decrease of EUR65-80/tonne in export PVC prices for April shipments to the CIS markets has been discussed.

Demand for PVC subsided from consumers in the CIS countries in April due to the quarantine measures taken by local authorities. However, many consumers do not intend to refuse from April purchases. There are no restrictions on export quantities of European producers, with the exception of the Polish manufacturer, which will shut its production capacities for maintenance.

Several buyers said some producers wanted to limit the reduction in export PVC prices by the amount of EUR65/tonne from March, but consumers resisted and hoped to achieve a greater reduction in prices of resin.
MRC

Ethylene overbuild mitigated by operating conditions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Even before the arrival of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), world ethylene production capacity was set to grow far ahead of demand during 2020-22, and now the excess could swell by another 6 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) or more, according to Chemweek.

However, the outlook for producers may not be as gloomy as it seems. Although a first look at the data suggests a global nameplate operating rate of just 86% in 2020, a deeper look into actual operations shows that the effective operating rate could be as high as 95%, says Steve Lewandowski, vice president/olefins at IHS Markit. Lewandowski recorded his analysis for the IHS Markit World Petrochemical Conference 2020 Online, which runs Friday, 3 April to 17 April.

"I remain a bit more bullish than most because of the way the economics and the assets run," he says.

IHS Markit has sharply reduced its forecast for 2020 ethylene demand growth from 6–7 MMt/y to just 1 MMt/y or so. By contrast, the forecast for new production capacity has changed little. "We have pulled back a little bit of these projects because of the virus, but still some 12.5 MMt/y are expected to be onstream by the end of 2020," says Lewandowski.

Not all of this capacity will be available, however, owing to delays in start-up and ramp-up success. A heavy turnaround schedule will cut into the existing production base.

Feedstock availability is also a problem in some regions. "The advantage of importing ethane is reduced more and more," notes Lewandowski. "Will that capacity really be available to run?" Those steam crackers that can shift to heavier feedslates will not be able to produce as much ethylene.

China's coal-to-olefin (CTO) and methanol-to-olefin (MTO) units will be difficult to operate profitably, and integrated producers may choose to purchase ethylene for their downstream operations. "With the drop in oil price, the advantage of producing derivatives via methanol is really economically out of the money," says Lewandowski.

Each of these factors will boost operating rates above the forecast nameplate of 86%. "When I take out start-up and ramp-up, and I take out some of these feed limitations, the operating rate moves up to 89%," says Lewandowski. "When I go through the next tranche - derating because of feed switching, taking MTOs out, some capacity rationalization - I go to 93%. And going further down in MTO and CTO, I can move up to 95% operating rates."

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, Sinopec Zhongyuan Petrochemical restarted its methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant in China in mid-February 2019, following an unplanned outage. The was shut on November 5, 2018 owing to bearish market conditions. Located at Henan in China, the MTO plant has an ethylene and propylene capacity of 100,000 mt/year each.

Besides, Jiutai Energy Group undertook an emergency shutdown at its methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant in Erods, Inner Mongolia on July 21, 2019 owing to mechanical issues. The plant remained off-line for about 4-5 days. Located in Inner Mongolia, the MTO plant has an ethylene capacity of 150,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

Ethylene is the main feedstock for the production of polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim.
MRC

European PP prices fell by EUR90-100/tonne in April for deliveries to the CIS countries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- April contract price of propylene was settled in Europe down by EUR175/tonne from the previous month. However, European producers are not going to cut export PP price proportionally for shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations over April prices of European PP began at the mid of last week. All market participants said that European producers have made a significant reduction in the export prices of propylene polymers for shipments in the current month, but the price reduction does not exceed EUR100/tonne, while propylene fell by EUR175/tonne in the current month in Europe.

Deals for April shipments of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) were discussed in the range of EUR840 - 900/tonne FCA, down by EUR80-90/tonne from March. Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were negotiated in the range of EUR940-980/tonne FCA, up by EUR90-100/tonne from the previous month.

Some producers have export restrictions due to scheduled maintenance works of capacities. But they are not critical for most buyers. Consumers partially met their needs in PP due to cheaper shipments from the Middle East.
MRC

Coalition ramps up face shields output in response to Covid-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A coalition initiated by 3D printing company Stratasys (Eden Prairie, Minnesota / USA) is ramping up production of disposable face shields for use by medical personnel in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Plasteurope.

Stratasys said the number of companies and universities involved in the coalition now exceeds 150 and members include Toyota, Boeing and medical technology company Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Requests from hospitals and other organisations for the shields, which include a 3D-printed frame and a clear plastic shield covering the entire face, now exceed 350,000 shields.

Stratasys said the first hospital shipment was received on 25 March, and by 27 March the coalition had exceeded its initial goal to produce 5,000 face shields. The coalition was expecting to produce more than 11,000 the following week. So far, it is serving the needs of more than 30 different health systems, covering hospitals, clinics, academic medical centers and nursing homes.

“Any 3D printing shop in the USA that wishes to help print plastic frames, can fill out an online form to be invited to join the effort,” Stratasys said. Details of the printing and assembly instructions are available on the company’s Covid-19 response page. In the US, Stratasys is using its “GrabCAD” shop work order management software to assign orders from healthcare systems to each coalition member. In Europe, the company said it is serving as a hub to connect service bureaus with those requesting help and has fielded offers and requests in most of the larger countries.

“I have never seen collaboration across our industry the way I’ve been seeing it over the last couple weeks,” said Stratasys healthcare segment leader Scott Drikakis, who is directing the company’s Covid-19 response in the Americas. “The need is dire, but we are getting the kind of commitments from our coalition partners that will make a real difference and help buy time to scale up the manufacturing of shields and other essential supplies."

Stratasys said it is producing thousands of visors itself at its US direct manufacturing facilities, located in Eden Prairie, in and around Austin, Texas, and in Valencia, California. It has also made free the material licenses on many of its high-end printers used to make the visors during this time.“We see additive manufacturing as an essential part of the response to the Covid-19 global epidemic,” said Stratasys CEO Yoav Zeif.

The company is also supporting an initiative led by anaesthetists at Massachusetts General Hospital to develop a new rapidly deployable ventilator for patients with Covid-19-related, ventilator-dependent lung injury. The anaesthesiology residents are calling on designers and engineers to design the ventilator using Stratasys’ GrabCAD platform, as part of an eight-week initiative launched on 1 April 2020. Other sponsors of the “CoVent-19 Challenge” include product development company Ximedica (Providence, Rhode Island / USA) and engineering software company Valispace (Bremen / Germany).

Finalists will work with Stratasys and the CoVent-19 Challenge team to turn their designs into prototypes for testing. The 3D printing company said the CoVent-19 team is working with private and public sector partners to be able to expedite US government approval for a winning design.

As MRC informed earlier, the demand impact from widespread lockdowns causes an immediate demand headache. But longer-term structural obstacles remain, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. пїЅThe prospects for European gasoline look particularly grim at the moment.пїЅ So says Chris Judge, vice-president, crude and oil products at price reporting agency Argus Media and an analyst of European refined products markets for well over 20 years. Or, rather said. As, to put into context the scale of both the short and longer-term challenges facing the European refining sector, Judge uttered these words in late February, before the extent of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on European and global products demand was clear.

We also remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive plastics and petrochemicals site it's building in Monaca, Pa, USA.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

MRC