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MOSCOW (MRC) - The most of Russian producers have kept a record high level of prices for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with a few exceptions in October. High global prices and volatile imports remain the main reasons for the high prices, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.
Tight supply, which have remained for more than a year on the Russian PVC market, which systematically led to an increase in prices. Despite the seasonal factor, the situation remains unchanged in October.
Strong demand, although slightly below September level, and insignificant volumes of imports in line with high prices in foreign markets help Russian producers to keep record high levels of prices in the domestic market. This month, producers actually rolled over September prices with a few exceptions.
August PVC imports increased and exceeded 14,000 tonnes, which is a record figure since 2016, and domestic producers also worked steadily. Nevertheless, there was no surplus of PVC on the market in the last month, but at the same time some Russian producers were shipping their delivery arrears under contracts of previous periods.
The imports decrease significantly in September, as the Chinese suppliers limited international railway transportation due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the north of the country. But at the same time, prices began to grow actively in Turkey and Asia, some Russian producers increased export sales of PVC in the fourth quarter.
Kaustik (Volgograd) shut down its PVC production from 20 September, which is the last shutdown for maintenance of Russian producers this year. The plant's annual production capacity is 90,000 tonnes.
Negotiations on the supply of Russian PVC took place quite promptly in the summer months, the deals were agreed in fact in one day. The discussion of deals was delayed for several days for September and October shipment. Converters were reluctant to agree to deals at record prices, but there was essentially no alternative to Russian PVC.
Since the summer, the range of prices for Russian PVC has been quite large, deals for October supplies of PVC with K64/67 were in the range: Rb155,000-201,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for volumes less than 500 tonnes,which actually corresponds to the September level. A producer increased prices of PVC with К58/70 in September, whereas another producer, on the contrary, cut prices.
October PVC prices in Russia remained at the September level with a few exceptions
Uz-Kor Gas Chemical resumed PE and PP production after scheduled maintenance works
According to the company's clients, Uz-Kor Gas Chemical resumed production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) after the scheduled maintenance works on 4 October. The outage was not long and began on 4 September.
It is also worth noting that Kazanorgsintez intends to start a consistent resumption of LDPE production from 8 October after the scheduled shutdown, which started in mid-September. The plant's production capacity is 540,000 tonnes per year.
Uz-Kor Gas Chemical was built on the basis of the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex (Surgil field). The total cost of the project is over USD4 bn. The complex provides processing of 4.5 bn cubic meters of natural gas and includes HDPE and PP production facilities with the annual capacity of 386,000 and 80,000 tonnes, respectively.
MRC
Gazprom neftekhim Salavat restarted LDPE production after turnaround
According to the company's customers, GNS resumed the production of LDPE after the scheduled maintenance works from 1 October. The outage was quite long and started from 20 July. The plant's annual production capacity is 45,000 tonnes.
It is also worth noting that Kazanorgsintez intends to start a consistent resumption of LDPE production from 7 October after the scheduled shutdown, which started in mid-September. The LDPE production capacity of the plant is 225,000 tonnes/year.
OAO "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly OAO "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, carrying out a full cycle of processing hydrocarbon material. The list of products manufactured by the plant includes more than 140 items, including 76 grades of the main products: gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrenes, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of household products made of plastics, surfactants and much more.
MRC
Eastman completed acquisition of the business of Matrix Films
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.) has completed the acquisition of the business and assets of Matrix Films, LLC and its UK affiliate, PremiumShield Limited, marketer of PremiumShield performance films, including its extended line of automotive film patterns, said the company.
"The completion of this acquisition is another step in Eastman’s commitment to being a leading innovator and service partner for paint protection and window film professional installers,” says Erin Bernhardt, general manager of Eastman’s Performance Films business. “We’re extremely excited to add the PremiumShield team, assets, and dealer base to our Eastman Performance Films team."
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The newly acquired business is part of Eastman’s Performance Films business of the company’s Advanced Materials segment.
As per MRC, Eastman is increasing capacity for its Naia-brand cellulosic filament yarn at its plant in Barcelona, Spain. Eastman is increasing its capacity to produce Naia cellulosic filament yarns at its plant Barcelona, by 30% by mid-2021, and by more than 50% by the end of 2022.
As per MRC's ScanPlast, Russia's consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) decreased by 14% and reached 62,000 tonnes in January-August 2021 against 72,100 tonnes in the same period of 2020. 13,500 tonnes of PC were consumed for the production of injection moulding products in Russia over the stated period, down by 29% year on year, whereas the last year's figure was 10,500 tonnes.
Eastman is a multinational chemical company serving customers in approximately 100 countries. Sales in 2015 amounted to around USD9.6 Billion. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. The company employs approximately 15 thousand people around the world.
MRC
Covestro and Interseroh to cooperate on plastics recycling
MOSCOW (MRC) -- German polymers company Covestro plans to cooperate with environmental services provider Interseroh on the “innovative recycling” of plastic waste, said the company.
Materials manufacturer Covestro and the environmental service provider Interseroh, a company of ALBA Group, intend to cooperate in the field of innovative recycling of plastic waste. This includes resistant plastic products made from Covestro materials, such as polyurethanes and polycarbonates. Therefore, the two partners have recently signed a memorandum of understanding.
For this reason, Interseroh intends to source and prepare the relevant materials derived from the end-of-life products and distribute them to Covestro for re-integration into the raw materials cycle; Covestro intends to use these end-of-life raw materials as feedstock leveraging their reycling expertise to turn plastic waste into high quality raw materials so as to close the loop.
"Our cooperation with Interseroh is an important milestone for the convergence of the chemical and recycling industries with the aim of building new value cycles for the circular economy," says Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann. "The success of the project will largely depend on our partner's recycling know-how and innovative recycling technologies that we are currently developing, but also on suitable regulatory framework conditions, especially for chemical recycling."
"Technological development and innovation are essential pillars of our work towards a future without waste," states Dr. Axel Schweitzer, CEO of ALBA Group. "In the light of the climate protection targets to be achieved, we must also find sustainable solutions for types of plastic that are difficult to recycle. We are pleased to be able to help shape developments here together with Covestro."
The financial or other details of the Covestro-Interseroh cooperation were not disclosed.
We remind that Covestro closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.
As per MRC's ScanPlast, Russia's consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) decreased by 14% and reached 62,000 tonnes in January-August 2021 against 72,100 tonnes in the same period of 2020. 13,500 tonnes of PC were consumed for the production of injection moulding products in Russia over the stated period, down by 29% year on year, whereas the last year's figure was 10,500 tonnes.
Interseroh is part of ALBA Group, a Germany-based recycling and environmental services provider.
Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc. With 2020 sales of EUR 10.7 billion, Covestro has 33 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).
MRC