U.S. specialty chemical markets strengthen in June

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reported that with continued recovery in the U.S. economy, specialty chemicals market volumes increased by 3.6 percent in June, an improvement from the revised 1.2 percent gain in May and the record 12.6 percent decline in April, said Americanchemistry.

Of the 28 specialty chemical segments that ACC monitors, 25 expanded in June, an improvement from the expansion in 22 segments in May and the decline across all segments in April. On a sequential basis, diffusion was 89 percent, an improvement from 79 percent in May and 0 percent in April. In June, 23 segments featured gains of more than 1.0 percent.

During June, overall specialty chemicals volumes were off 11.7 percent on a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis. Volumes stood at 99.0 percent of their average 2012 levels in June. This is equivalent to 6.74 billion pounds (3.06 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, gains occurred in only cosmetic additives, electronic chemicals, and flavors and fragrances. On a Y/Y basis, diffusion was 12 percent, an improvement from May and April but sharply lower than at the start of the year.

Specialty chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food, among others.

Specialty chemicals differ from commodity chemicals. Specialties may only have one or two uses, whereas commodities may have multiple or different applications for each chemical. Commodity chemicals comprise most of the production volume in the global marketplace, while specialty chemicals make up most of the diversity in commerce at any given time and are relatively high value, with greater market growth rates.

This data set is the only timely source of market trends for 28 market and functional specialty chemical segments. Chemistry directly touches over 96 percent of all manufactured goods, and trends in these specialty chemical segments provide a detailed view of trends in manufacturing. The data also shed light on how various consumer end-use markets are performing compared to others in the marketplace.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9% in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was 106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9% year on year.
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1. Losses widen at Versalis on lower sales, production caused by COVID-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis, the chemicals subsidiary of Eni (Rome, Italy), reports an adjusted operating loss of €66 million (USD77 million) in the second quarter, compared with a EUR28-million adjusted operating loss in the corresponding period of last year, said Chemweek. Eni cites lower sales and production volumes caused by lower demand “in connection with the ripple effects on the economy” of the COVID-19 pandemic. A revenue figure for Versalis has not been disclosed.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Through its Nusaned Investment vehicle, Saudi Arabian petrochemicals and plastics producer Sabic (Riyadh) has set up a joint venture said to be worth SAR 37m (EUR 8.4m) to own and operate a production facility for wood-plastic composite (WPC) profiles, said Plasteurope.

JV partner is Suhul Alkhalej, a Saudi industrial development and investment company. A location for the facility was not announced. The composites are used for decking and cladding, sheets and doors, and the portfolio will also extend to window and door profiles made of unplasticised PVC. Sabic will supply the polymer for manufacturing the products that it bills as more energy efficient than traditionally used construction materials.

Faisal Al-Bahair, who is VP for local content & business development in addition to being CEO of Nusaned Investment, said the new project fulfils Sabic’s strategy of investing in industrial SMEs, within the kingdom’s "Saudi Vision 2030".

The new joint venture is Nusaned’s second project, following an agreement signed in May 2019 with the Schmid Group (Freudenstadt / Germany) to establish the JV, Advance Energy Storage System Investment. Its focus is on manufacturing vanadium redox flow batteries at the third industrial city in Dammam / Saudi Arabia.

According to Sabic, Nusaned Investment through several projects contributed approximately SR 6.1 bn (EUR 1.4 bn) to Saudi Arabia’s GDP in 2019 and created more than 3,000 jobs. Nusaned Investment secured six deals in 2019 together worth SR 143m.

As MRC informed earlier, Sabic said that its polycarbonate manufacturing facility at Cartagena, Spain, is set to become the world’s first large-scale chemical production site to be run entirely on renewable power, following the signing of a major agreement.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PC consumption (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) rose in January-May 2020 by 19% year on year to 38,900 tonnes (32,700 tonnes a year earlier).

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world"s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world"s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Strem Chemicals (Newburyport, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of specialty products, to fulfill commercial sampling and research requests for Solvay's specialty phosphorus products, said Chemweek.

The agreement covers a range of products developed and manufactured by Solvay’s technology solutions, used in applications such as catalysts and catalyst ligands, extraction reagents, electronic materials, genomics reagents, and in various materials/formulations, the company says.

"Like Solvay, [Strem] is committed to providing high-purity phosphorus specialty chemicals, short lead times enabled by its global supply chain, and strong technical support," says Eamonn Conrad, development manager/phosphorus specialties, technology solutions at Solvay.

Ephraim Honig, CEO at Strem Chemicals, says, "Strem serves many of the same end-use markets and applications with phosphorus-based chemicals our customers will now be able to start their projects by sourcing phosphorus-based Solvay chemicals from Strem."

As MRC informed earlier, Solvay SA said it will close two plants making composites for Airbus SE and Boeing Co. in a sign the deepening aerospace crisis is hitting suppliers of even the latest aircraft materials. The Belgian chemical maker is adding to savings achieved in the past year following the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9% in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was 106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis, the chemicals subsidiary of Eni (Rome, Italy), reports an adjusted operating loss of €66 million (USD77 million) in the second quarter, compared with a EUR28-million adjusted operating loss in the corresponding period of last year, said Chemweek.

Eni cites lower sales and production volumes caused by lower demand “in connection with the ripple effects on the economy” of the COVID-19 pandemic. A revenue figure for Versalis has not been disclosed.

Versalis’s petrochemical sales volume was 1.02 million metric tons in the second quarter, down by 9% year on year (YOY). The reduction was seen mainly in the business’s intermediates and elastomers product lines due to weaker demand from their main end-markets, particularly the automotive sector, as a result of the worldwide economic downturn following the lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. These trends have been partly mitigated by higher sales volumes for polyethylene (PE) and styrenics due to brisk demand for certain sub-segments tied to the COVID-19 emergency, such as packaging and single-use plastics, Eni says.

Versalis achieved a strong rebound in margins in the intermediates and PE segments driven by higher demand and lower availability of products imported from outside Europe. Styrenics and elastomers reported flat margins YOY as a result of the economic downturn. In particular, steam cracker margins had a strong recovery in March and April when oil market fell abruptly, driving down naphtha feedstock prices. This trend nevertheless began to reverse after the implementation of OPEC+ cuts, which supported feedstock prices, Eni says.

Eni says there was lower availability of products from Versalis's plants due to longer maintenance standstills at its main production hubs in response to the COVID-19 emergency, particularly at the Priolo and Brindisi, Italy, complexes. The average operating rate at Versalis’s petchem plants was 60% in the second quarter, down from 69% in the year-earlier period, Eni says.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC