Ethylene prices march higher in Northeast Asia

On Tuesday, ethylene prices rose in Northeast Asia, while remaining stable in Southeast Asia, as per Polymerupdate.

CFR North East Asia ethylene prices on Tuesday were assessed at the USD 815-825/mt levels, an increase of USD (+20/mt) from Monday's assessed levels. An industry source in Asia informed a Polymerupdate team member, "Prices rose on the back of an improved regional buying momentum."

Meanwhile, CFR South East Asia ethylene prices on Tuesday were assessed at the USD 845-855/mt levels, unchanged from Monday's assessed levels.

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Dutch chemical recycler Corsair Group International Holding BV is partnering with Swiss-based sustainable material distributor Kera Energy AG to globally distribute pyrolysis oil (pyoil), according to a statement by Kera Energy, as per Chemweek.

Kera Energy has an overall plastics processing capacity of up to 300,000 metric tons per year in compliance with ISCC Plus and REACH regulations, according to the company. The partnership will help commercially optimize sustainable feedstock transportation for the chemical industry, including bionaphtha and pyoil, it said.

Sustainable feedstocks are often required to be transported by ships carrying the necessary sustainability certifications, as the whole value chain along the production of sustainable chemicals will be audited by the ISCC Plus issuer.

Kera will utilize Corsair’s pyoil, produced from mixed plastic household waste at facilities in Thailand, Finland and planned future facilities, it said.

Pyrolysis is one of the prevailing routes to chemically recycle waste plastics back to its building block state. The pyoil can then be processed and fed into a steam cracker as a drop-in naphtha substitute for use in the production of virgin-quality plastic products.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, last assessed the feedstock waste plastic bales for the pyrolysis process at €250 per metric ton DDP Northwest Europe, stable week over week.

The chemical industry has increasingly focused on advanced recycling in recent years, with numerous petrochemical players investing in projects across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia. These include pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste, molecular recycling of recycled polyethylene terephthalate, and mechanical recycling of food-grade polystyrene.

However, significant setbacks were recently seen in the global chemical recycling industry. US-based Eastman Chemical faces a $375 million loss in funding for its advanced recycling project after the US Department of Energy revoked support for the company’s molecular recycling initiative at Longview, Texas, on May 30.

In Europe, Dutch-listed chemical recycler Pryme faces its own operational challenges, having halted its pyrolysis plant due to a discharge valve leak and expecting €1.5 million in capital expenditure during 2025 to improve oil quality. The company disclosed that the quality of pyoil produced by Pryme in 2024 and in first quarter 2025 did not meet the specification of the sales agreement signed with its main client, relating to a renegotiation of its offtake agreement with Shell.

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The average operating rates of Japan’s naphtha-fed steam crackers stood at 76.8% in May, down from 78.6% in April and 80.4% a year earlier, according to the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) on June 18, as per Chemweek.

Japan’s ethylene production in May stood at 420,100 metric tons, falling 7% from a month earlier but up 6% from the prior-year period, the data showed.

Market sources said Japan’s cracker operations will likely remain low amid the steam cracker turnaround season.

The Platts-assessed CFR Northeast Asia ethylene price rose $20 per metric ton day over day to $820 per metric ton on June 17. Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

We remind, Japan's production of five major plastics was previously reported to have fallen 5.2% to 5.7 million tonnes in 2024 from the previous year, driven by weak domestic demand that led to lower output.

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Repsol is working to restart a petrochemical complex in central Spain after it had to shut it down due to an external power supply failure, a spokesperson said, as per Reuters.

"Today (Monday) at 6 a.m. there has been an interruption in the external power supply of the Puertollano industrial complex, for reasons beyond the control of the center".

The spokesperson said safety systems kicked in and worked correctly, declining further comment.

A spokesperson for grid operator REE said that the problem was not connected to the transmission grid it managed and it had not detected any issues.

Spain is still reeling from the worst blackout to hit the Iberian peninsula, which in April left around 60 million people without power.

While the cause has yet to be determined, energy companies, industry experts and lobby groups said that several power glitches in the days before the outage pointed to the instability of the country's power grid.

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Ascend Performance Materials (Houston) plans to shut down its new hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) production facility in Lianyungang, China, “over the next few months” as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, the company said on June 17, as per Chemweek.

Ascend filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April. HMDA is a key feedstock for the engineering resin nylon 6,6.

"In April, with the support of our lenders, we initiated a financial restructuring process to reduce our debt and position Ascend for the future," Phil McDivitt, President and CEO of Ascend, explained. "As we evaluated the market conditions and ongoing trade disputes, we determined that the Lianyungang production facility is no longer the best way to support our customers in the region. Accordingly, we have made the decision to wind down the facility."

The Lianyungang facility, which has 200,000 metric tons per year of HMDA capacity, went online in October 2024. Ascend has another 505,000 metric tons per year of HMDA capacity divided between its US sites in Decatur, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida.

"This decision follows a comprehensive evaluation of the facility's long-term viability amid evolving market dynamics and regulatory landscapes," Ascend said. "The rest of the company’s Chinese operations, including the Suzhou compounding facility, will continue to operate as usual."

Market participants expect the impact of the closure of to be minimal, as overcapacity and weak demand have long plagued the Chinese HMDA market. "HMDA [capacity] is too much," a buyer told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights. “This won't affect the market.”

Platts last assessed hexamethylenediamine, FCA East China, at Yuan 18,750 per metric ton on June 11, down Yuan 50 on the week.

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