Import of PVC-S in Russia has increased in 2.5 times

In spite of low demand on complete products, Russian companies continue to increase resin imports. In February supplies from China have increased almost in 3.5 times in comparing with January 2010. Big window shape producers continue to approve North-American PVC-S.

Import from USA formed in total 5800 tons in two months. At the same time in February Russian companies didn't bring the material by Oxyvinyls.

Import supplies of PVC-S from Europe have increased almost in three times (to 4300 tons) in comparing with the same period of last year to the end of two months in 2010. In February Russian companies have increased the purchase of BorsodChem resin almost in 4 times in comparing with last month and resumed usual supplies of material by Ineos ChlorVinyls (1900 tons).

MRC

More information you can find in our DataScope report.

March 30 (Chemie.de) -- INEOS NOVA announced that prices for GPPS products will increase by +┬ 90 Euro per/tonne and for HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene) by +┬120 per/tonne in Europe, effective April 1st, 2010. The cost of raw materials for both products have risen sharply making the price increase necessary to restore margins back to a sustainable level.

According to the company, the expansion of the HIPS delta over GPPS is long overdue. The increased delta for HIPS is necessary to cover the substantial increases confirmed for Butadiene Rubber costs.

MRC

MRC Reference

Ineos is a petrochemical group.
In Russia Ineos's interests are represented by Ineos Polyolefins and IneosChlorVinyls.

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC - 4.5%;

polyethylene - 1.9%
(HDPE - 2.8%, LDPE - 1.2%);
polypropylene - 1.4%
(PP-random - 22.1%, PP-impact - 2.0%);
polystyrene - 0.9%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
profile extrusion;
pipe extrusion;
film extrusion;
injection molding.

March 30 (ExxonMobil Chemical) -- ExxonMobil Chemical has expanded its portfolio of metallocene polyethylene (mPE) resins with the introduction of Enable mPE 35-05 grade resin for tough, stiff, high clarity films. Enable mPE 35-05 resin provides converters and end users with significant downgauging opportunities that can lead to more sustainable flexible film opportunities, while delivering outstanding processability across a wide range of applications and extrusion equipment.

Enable mPE 35-05 resin displays robust and straightforward processing on both linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) film line equipment, while exhibiting processing and shrink properties approaching LDPE, with the mechanical properties of higher alpha-olefin (HAO) resins of similar density. Enable mPE 35-05 resin delivers improved processing as a result of its lower melt temperature which promotes greater bubble stability with lower energy consumption, versus fractional melt index LLDPE. Long chain branching contributes to excellent shear thinning characteristics that can deliver higher extrusion rates.

"Introduced in 2008, Enable mPE resins help converters enhance their extrusion operations while providing excellent film performance. A single unique resin, Enable mPE delivers more stable operations, extends film line output, application versatility, and generates significant downgauging," said Dave McConville, Global Market Development Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. "Enable mPE 35-05 resin broadens our metallocene portfolio into the medium density product space, and opens up new opportunities for converters and end users."

MRC

March 30 (Plastemart) -- British Petroleum (BP), one of the world's largest energy and petrochemical companies, plans to expand its India operation by setting up a 1 mln ton petrochemical plant. To be built at an investment of Rs 3,500 crore, the plant may come up in Gujarat. The company is in talks with Indian oil refiners to buy paraxylene as feedstock to make purified terephthalic acid (PTA).

Oil refiners currently avoid selling naphtha directly in the market because of declining margins, but prefer to produce paraxylene and sell it to petrochemical makers. BP is one of the big players in PTA globally with a market share of about 20%. In Asia, it is present in countries such as China, South Korea and Malaysia. This investment follows an unsuccessful attempt to enter the refining business through a tie-up with state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Company's upcoming 9 mln ton Bhatinda refinery three years ago.

mrcplast.com

March 29 (Peninsula) -- Qatar hopes to soon become the regional hub of petrochemical industry and plans are afoot to raise production from the current 18 million tonnes a year to 30 million tonnes by 2014.

This has been disclosed by Dr Mohamed Al Mullah, General Manager of Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco), in an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA). He added that investments in Qapco currently total $1.7bln and are expected to jump to an incredible $12bln by 2012. Given a booming petrochemical industry in the Middle East, Qatar will become an important regional hub, Al Mullah noted, explaining that Qapco was producing 800,000 tonnes of ethylene annually and 400,000 tonnes of low density polyethylene (LDPE), besides 70,000 tonnes of sulphur.

The company has been meeting a considerable part of Middle East requirements of ethylene whose plant is being upgraded. Expansions underway would allow Qapco to raise LDPE output to 700,000 tonnes annually by 2011 while production of ethylene would reach 1.4 million tonnes per annum, Al Mullah said. The company's products have become more competitive in the European Union (EU) countries thanks to a reduction in EU taxation rates to 3.5 percent following coordinated efforts by Qatarand other GCC countries.

Qapco currently has a global marketing network with 26 offices and three regional storage facilities extending the company's services to many countries around the world, especially in the Middle East and Asia. Al Mullah said that Qatar is becoming one of the major producers of petrochemicals in the region, besides Saudi Arabia, other GCC countries and Iran. Iraq is expected re-enter into the field when it rebuilds its oil industry that had been ravaged by years of war, said Al Mullah. Global petrochemical prices have recently improved, the Qapco general manager added, anticipating good profits for the company. He said an upswing in prices in the near future was expected, given the current stability in crude oil prices.

Al Mullah said that the world financial crisis adversely impacted oil prices and in turn the prices of petrochemical products as well. However, the impact on Qapco profits was limited, given the boom in the industry in the pre-crisis period. The impact of the crisis was also cushioned by the fact that the primary feedstock for ethylene production, that is, gas, is produced in Qatar and available at reasonable prices, besides the presence of Qapco's marketing network in many parts of the world, though the global petrochemical industry had been seriously hit by the crisis, leading to plant closures and a decline in consumption. This has left producers with lower profits.

However, despite the crisis, Qapco's thrust continues to be on expansion. The company has signed an agreement to set up an LDPE plant at a cost of QR2bn. It will be completed by 2011 and produce 300,000 tonnes of LDPE per annum. Besides, Qatofin , a Qapco subsidiary which has a production capacity of 450,000 tonnes a year, had started LDPE production in November 2009, Al Mullah noted. Qatofin represents Qapco's competitive edge in global markets. It is 36 percent owned by Qapco, 36 percent by France's Total and one percent by Qatar Petroleum.

MRC