MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has hiked its European selling prices for 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and its derivatives with immediate effect or as contracts allow, reported Chemweek.
No reasons for the increase were given.
The price of BDO has been increased by EUR800/metric ton (USD963/metric ton), along with the derivatives n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and n-ethylpyrrolidone. The prices for tetrahydrofuran and polytetramethylene ether glycol have each risen by EUR1,050/metric ton.
BDO and its derivatives are used for producing engineering plastics, polyurethanes, solvents, and elastic spandex fibers. BASF operates a 190,000-metric tons/year BDO plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany, and a 156,000-metric tons/year plant at Geismar, Louisiana, according to IHS Markit data.
BASF announced in November last year its 60/40 joint venture with Petronas Chemicals Group, BASF Petronas Chemicals, would close its 100,000-metric tons/year BDO plant at Kuantan, Malaysia, in March 2021 due to BDO overcapacity in the region. It also closed its 25,000-metric tons/year BASF Idemitsu Co. JV plant at Chiba, Japan, in December last year, again citing the region’s overcapacity and a declining BDO market in Japan.
As MRC wrote before, in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other’s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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