Sekisui hikes PVOH prices worldwide

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sekisui Specialty Chemicals announced today that it will increase the price of Selvol Polyvinyl Alcohol, Selvol Ultiloc, Selvol Ultalux and Selvol Premiol up to USD150/mT globally, said Chemweek.

Sekisui Specialty Chemicals remains committed to meeting customers' needs with high quality products. The increase will take effect November 1, 2020, or as contracts and agreements allow. Customers should contact their local Sekisui sales representative for more details.

As MRC informed earlier, Sekisui Chemical has commenced the production of thermal interface materials for environment-friendly vehicles at Roermond, the Netherlands. Sekisui Chemical has established a new company, Sekisui Polymatech, based in the Netherlands.

As per MRC, Russia's output of chemical products rose in August 2020 by 5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 5.3% in the first eight 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 January-July output. August production of benzene fell to 102,000 tonnes from 95,300 tonnes a month earlier due to scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at several producers. Overall output of this product reached 918,300 tonnes over the stated period, down by 0.9% year on year.

Sekisui Specialty Chemicals' primary product is Selvol, a line of high performance polyvinyl alcohol polymers and copolymers used in paper, adhesive, packaging, construction, personal care, and many other specialty formulations. The company also represents Durastream CPVC compounds and resins, Advancell expandable microspheres, and S-LEC BK polyvinyl acetal resins. Sekisui Specialty Chemicals is a subsidiary of the Sekisui Chemical Group, a multibillion dollar, global company that delivers a wide range of products and services to enrich people's lives. The company is comprised of core businesses and technologies in housing, social infrastructure, and chemical solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global refining throughput will increase in the last quarter of the year by more than 2 MM barrels per day (bpd), the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, though the rise will not be sufficient to balance oil products markets, reported Reuters.

The sharp fall in demand for transport fuels owing to coronavirus lockdowns has placed significant pressure on refiners worldwide, weighing on margins and dragging down utilization rates to their lowest in 35 years.

The IEA’s monthly report said that global refinery crude throughput was at 73.7 MM bpd in the third quarter, almost 9 MM bpd down from the same period last year.

It predicted the crude intake would rise by 2.1 MM bpd to 75.8 MM bpd in the final quarter of the year.

“Nevertheless, runs will be almost 3 MM bpd below the levels required to balance the product markets, leading to stock draws,” the agency said.

Average global throughput in 2021 will rebound by 4.9 MM bpd to 79.4 MM bpd, the agency forecasts.

Refineries have also faced the challenge of a structural shift in oil use, moving away from transport fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel towards petrochemicals feedstock.

The petrochemicals sector remained strong during lockdowns, buoyed by the need for single-use plastics and packaging materials as a result of a boom in online shopping.

However, the IEA said the fall in crude prices in September, the first since April, offered some short-lived support to product margins.

European gasoline barge profit margins hit a seven-month high last week, boosted by firm export demand from West Africa and the United States and regional refinery shutdowns.

European diesel markets also recovered this month from historic lows as regional refineries shut for maintenance and Russian exports dropped, helping to offset persistently weak demand.

As MRC wrote previously, Croatia's Rijeka refinery will be optimizing its operations from November "for a few months" and during that period will "perform regular technological activities at process units such as catalyst regeneration and preparation of these plants for the new processing cycle in 2021 through regular maintenance work."

We also remind that Croatia’s oil and gas firm INA said in July 2020 it aims to invest 250 million euros (USD282.4 million) to build a biorefinery in the central town of Sisak to help reduce its carbon footprint. The company, whose biggest shareholders are Hungary’s energy group MOL and the Croatian government, has applied for strategic project approval at Croatia’s ministry of economy and entrepreneurship. It is also seeking European Union funding, as the bloc of which Croatia and Hungary are members, aspires to cut emissions to zero by 2050.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman is experiencing a partial outage at its methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) plant in Geismar, Louisiana, according to a press release from the company, said Chemweek.

The partial outage is due to a mechanical failure at a third party raw material supplier and is expected to last for around five weeks. Huntsman operates a 500,000 tonnes/year MDI plant in Geismar as part of its Rubicon joint venture with Lanxess.

MDI is consumed mainly in polyurethane foams, which account for about 80% of global consumption. Rigid foams, the largest outlet for MDI, are used mostly in construction, refrigeration, packaging and insulation. MDI is also used to make binders, elastomers, adhesives, sealants, coatings and fibres.

As MRC informed earlier, Nanjing Jinling Huntsman, a joint venture between Huntsman and Sinopec Jinling, plans to close the propylene oxide plant in Nanjing (Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China) on November 1 for scheduled maintenance. This plant with a capacity of 240,000 tonnes/year of propylene oxide will be closed until approximately 25 November.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Port of Antwerp says imports of liquid chemicals have fallen by 11.5% year on year (YOY) for the first nine months of 2020. Liquid chemical exports rose by 2.8% YOY over the same period, resulting in an overall decrease in liquid chemicals trade of 7.3% for the period to end-September, reported Chemweek.

Total liquid bulk volumes dropped by 5.7% compared to the first nine months of last year, although oil derivatives have started to pick up “especially on the export side, which suffered greatly as a result of the reduced demand due to the corona crisis and the plunging oil price,” it says. The dry bulk throughput of fertilizers declined by 4.5% YOY, it says.

Container volumes in September, however, rose to more than one million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the first time it has passed this level since April, according to Port of Antwerp. Larger volumes have been recorded since July in container handling, after reaching “rock bottom” in May and June, it says. “In the third quarter, growth occurred mainly in container traffic to the Far East and within Europe,” it notes.

Total throughput at the port decreased by 4.4% for the nine-month period compared to last year. The automotive sector also continues to feel the consequences of the crisis, it says. After rising volumes were seen in June and July, these decreased in August, with no clear recovery in September, it says. The total throughput of new vehicles at the port decreased by 30%, with that of second-hand vehicles falling by 23.7% for the first nine months of 2020, compared to last year.

“The impact of the standstill of the global supply chain as a result of the corona crisis can still be felt,” says Jacques Vandermeiren, Port of Antwerp’s CEO. “The prospect of Brexit also leads to uncertainty in the market.”

As MRC wrote before, on 15 October, The European Commissionadopted the EU's chemicals strategy for sustainability, describing it as the first step towards a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment announced in the European Green Deal.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in August 2020 by 5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 5.3% in the first eight months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-July output. August production of benzene fell to 102,000 tonnes from 95,300 tonnes a month earlier due to scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at several producers. Overall output of this product reached 918,300 tonnes over the stated period, down by 0.9% year on year.

At the same time, August production of primary polymers rose to 888,000 tonnes against 838,000 tonnes in July due to increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim, Stavrolen and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 6,630,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 15.2% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese (Dallas, Texas) is implementing a worldwide price increase, effective 1 November or as contracts allow, for its engineered materials product portfolio. Prices will rise by up to 10%, it says, as per Chemweek.

The increase is due to a “significant demand increase” for its specialty polymer products, according to Celanese.

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, announced an increase in its September low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices in China. Celanese also raised its September prices of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) by the same amount.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, demand for LDPE has remained very weak in the spot market since the beginning of the month. Converters made purchases exclusively under the existing orders for finished products, they refused to put LDPE and finished products into their warehouses. Buyers were confident that in October, with the end of the shutdowns for maintenance at several production capacities, supply of PE would increase significantly and prices would substantially decrease.

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 2019 net sales of USD6.3 billion.
MRC