PVC-S imports up 30% in Russia in January

Overall imports of resin produced by America's Georgia Gulf and Oxyvinyls moved at 2.2 kt. The share of 225P/Oxyvinyls and PVC-1091/Georgia Gulf grades exceeded 90% of overall imports of material produced by those companies.

Russian companies were not importing PVC-S from Taiwan in January. Formosa's resin was imported only from the USA (726 mt). Imports of Chinese PVC-S amounted only to 1.1 kt (whereas average monthly imports of Chinese feedstock during the second half of 2009 exceeded 10 kt).

MRC

For more detailed information, see DataScope.

February 22 (plasteurope) -- Citing the need to recover its margins, Dow Europe has announced a EUR 80/t price increase for polyethylene resins in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India.

The hike applies to all the group's LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE grades and will go into effect on 1 March 2010.

MRCMRC Reference:

Share in the Russian market, 2008:

polyethylene - 2.5% (including LLDPE - 33.1%);

polypropylene - 0.8% (including PP-impact - 1.1%);

polystyrene - 2.6%.

Annual sales growth in Russia, recent 5 years:

polyethylene - 55%;

polypropylene - 28%;

polystyrene - 2%.

Imports by processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

sheet extrusion;

foaming.

February 22 (plastemart) -- A subsidiary of South Korean Lotte Group - KP Chemical, has completed acquisition of UK based PTA and PET plant. Lotte Chemical UK Ltd., the unit of KP Chemical, inked an agreement to buy the Artenius plant in Wilton for 26 bln won (US$22.4 mln). The Artenius plant has capacity to produce 500,000 tpa of purified terephthalic acid and 150,000 tpa of polyethylene terephthalate.

The deal is part of the Korean firm's move to expand its presence in Europe.

MRC

February 22 (plastemart) -- Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) plans to build a third olefins plant at an outlay of US$5 bln. The facility is being planned with an estimated production capacity of over 1 mln tpa of ethylene and should be operational in 2015. PIC, a unit of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., expects to complete plans for the plant this year. PIC's current capacity at olefins I and II is about 1.65 mln tpa of ethylene and its derivatives.

MRC

February 22 (plastemart) -- Reliance Industries has raised its bid for LyondellBasell to around US$15 bln from an earlier offer of US$13.5 bln, on February 19, the deadline for RIL to submit its revised proposal. In a bid to make the revised offer more lucrative, RIL is reported to have also included stock and cash options for shareholders and creditors in its offer. This revision in RIL's bid comes after the management of LyondellBasell inked a deal with unsecured creditors, raising the amount to be paid out to holders of general unsecured claims by US$150 mln. These creditors had been blocking LB's attempts to emerge from bankruptcy. As per the new terms, US$450 mln will be distributed to the holders of general unsecured claims, millennium bonds and 2015 notes against the earlier offer of US$300 mln. This move could pave the way for the company to emerge out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

RIL has raised Rs 25,000 crore from the sale of treasury stock to fund its bid.

MRCMRC Reference

LyondellBasell. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 1.4% (including HDPE - 2.5%, LDPE - 0.3%);
PP - 4.1% (including block-copolymers - 9.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia, during the recent 5 years:
PE - 27%;
PP - 88%.

The leader in the following polymers processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

injection molding.