DATE : 2014-04-30
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Tuesday temporary anti-dumping measures against Tertiary Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) imports from India.
Importers of Indian TBHQ should submit cash deposits to Chinese customs from Wednesday, the MOC said.
According to the ministry's investigations, TBHQ from India has been dumped on the Chinese market and such imports have caused substantial damage to the domestic industry.
The MOC launched an anti-dumping probe into imported Indian TBHQ on August 22 last year.
TBHQ is a kind of antioxidant, which can be used in instant noodles, bacon, dried food cans and fried food.
SOURCE China Economic Net
DATE : 2014-04-29
Dairen Chemical is in plans to shut its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is likely to be shut in early August 2014.
It is slated to remain off-stream for around one month.Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
SOURCE : PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-04-28
Cheil Industries, Samsung’s electronics materials affiliate, said Monday it would mass-produce a key raw material for organic light-emitting diodes that it has been developing for the past two years.
This marks the first time for a Korean company to develop and produce a host material for green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes, allowing display pixels to emit green light for improved brightness and power consumption.
“We have supplied the material to Samsung Display for Samsung Electronics’ mobile devices. We cannot, however, specify models,” a Cheil Industries official said.
The company will produce 5 tons of the component annually.
Industry sources claimed that the materials may have been used for Samsung Electronics’ new flagship Galaxy S5 smartphones as its display brightness and power consumption have been significantly improved over its previous models.
Cheil Industries researchers examine raw materials for green phosphorescent OLEDs at its Gumi plant. (Cheil Industries)
“The green phosphorescent host material is essential for reducing handsets’ power consumption and extending their (battery) lifespan,” said Jang Jin, a professor at Kyung Hee University’s Department of Information Display.
The development of its proprietary OLED materials is expected to help Samsung by reducing its heavy reliance on imported materials for its display panels, lowering production costs. Currently, Samsung Display receives most of its supplies from Japanese and U.S. companies.
“While most OLED equipment has been localized, OLED materials still come from foreign companies. Further localization will boost its cost-competitiveness,” a Samsung Display source said.
Cheil Industries have zeroed in on the development of display materials since it invested 20 billion won ($19 million) to set up an OLED plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, in March 2011.
In 2013, it acquired Novaled, a Germany-based OLED company that has around 530 patents and is a global leader in doping technology, which is used in the production of OLEDs.
The global OLED market is expected to hit 470 billion won this year, growing 30 percent annually. It is forecast to grow to 800 billion won in 2016 and 1 trillion won in 2017, according to global research firm HIS.
Cheil Industries expects to see its OLED sales reach 100 billion won this year, the company said.
“The development of technology for key OLED materials has upgraded the company’s business capacity. We will continue to expand our global market network in line with the growing production of large OLED panels,” Cheil Industries CEO Cho Nam-seong said in a statement.
The company will continue to expand its materials business in semiconductor and display panels by generating synergy with Samsung SDI, a lithium-ion battery maker, which Cheil recently merged with.
Cheil is expected to dissolve next month when SDI holds its shareholders meeting to gain approval for the merger.
Cheil’s materials business made 1.6 trillion won in sales last year, accounting for 36.6 percent of the firm’s 4.4 trillion won in overall sales.
SOURCE The Korea Herald
DATE : 2014-04-28
This month Malaysian national oil company (NOC) Petronas' board of directors approved a final investment decision (FID) for the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, following several delays to the project as a result of environmental and financial concerns. The FID will see the RAPID oil refinery commence operations in early 2019, two years later than was announced in August 2013 (see Malaysia: 1 August 2013: ). The petrochemical complex will primarily focus on supplying specialty chemicals for pharmaceutical, consumer goods and automotive uses, while the 300,000 b/d naptha cracker-based refinery will produce ethylene, propylene, and C4 and C5 olefins, as well as gasoline and diesel that meet Euro 4 and 5 specifications. Construction of RAPID will cost USD16 billion, while associated facilities will cost USD11 billion.
Significance: Petronas' decision to proceed with the project, despite doubts about its commercial viability, comes as the NOC faces pressure to deliver on a major piece of infrastructure within the Malaysian government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). Earlier this year, Petronas CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas warned that the NOC would not proceed with the project if it was found to be unprofitable, suggesting internal debate over the commercial viability of RAPID. In August 2013, Taiwanese refiner Kuokang Petrochemical Technology Company (KTPC) scrapped a plan to build a naptha-based petrochemical complex in Johor, which was set to rival Petronas' RAPID (see Malaysia: 19 August 2013:). KPTC claimed that cheap petrochemical products made in the US by shale gas ethane-based crackers had made Asian naptha-based refineries uncompetitive, except in the manufacturing of refinery products that cannot be produced from natural gas refineries (such as propylene, butadiene, BTX, and vehicle fuels). Moreover, Petronas' RAPID will come online at the same time as many other large refineries, pushing down the price of oil and petrochemical products and further dampening profit prospects. However, RAPID is key to the Malaysian government's vision of turning the country into a regional oil trading hub by building new oil terminals (including the Tanjung Bin terminal, which will service RAPID), storage facilities, and the RAPID complex. The government's plan seeks to capitalise on Johor's proximity to Singapore and existing oil trade routes, as well as Singapore's land shortage, which limits its ability to accommodate increasing trade flows. The government sees the RAPID refinery as essential to creating added value from these trade flows. As one of Malaysia's largest Greenfield developments, it will also provide a significant economic boost to the region. Although the government has shown considerable sensitivity to Petronas' need to increase profits – as evidenced by reforms last year that capped Petronas' annual government dividend at 30% of income, rather than the flat dividend of MYR30 billion (USD9.1 billion) previously – Petronas' decision to move ahead with RAPID reflects the NOC's mandate to support key projects of economic and political significance while also maintaining profitability.
SOURCE IHS Global Insight
DATE : 2014-04-28
Styrindo Mono Indonesia (SMI) plans to shut its 100,000 tonne/year No 1 styrene monomer (SM) unit in the second half of November for maintenance, a company source said on Monday.
The unit, located in Merak, is expected to be shut for around two weeks.
The schedule was initially pushed back to early 2015 but has been brought forward again.
The company has also planned to shut its 250,000 tonne/year No 2 plant, at the same location, in the first quarter of 2015 for maintenance.
SMI is the sole SM producer in the country.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-25
European acetone market participants were facing the possiblity of downward pricing pressure on Friday after a major buyer declared force majeure on downstream methyl methacrylate (MMA), thus limiting its acetone purchases.
Lucite International declared force majeure on MMA at its 200,000 tonne/year Cassel, UK site, with effect from 24 April, a source from the company confirmed. As a result, it is expected to buy less acetone.
“We are operating at super low rates. As a result we will not take acetone we planned in May,” said a second company source.
The news is expected to put some downward pressure on acetone spot prices. Acetone is already seen by many in the market as rather long with improved production rates and lower demand than expected in a normally seasonally strong month.
“I think it will put pressure on spot prices. They have continued to drift, and this could accelerate that process ,” said one distributor.
However an acetone producer saw more limited impact.
“It’s not making the market long. [Lucite are] still demanding acetone - storing and consuming it,” said the producer.
The increased availability should also make for interesting monthly contract negotiations, with some expecting a reduction even if feedstock propylene rises as expected.
“Can't see reason for the contract to increase, given the extra availability,” said the distributor.
“I believe product is available. The contract is high and we see spot down . Its logical to take down [the contract price],” said a acetone buyer.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE: 2014-04-27
China's Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical restarted its 260,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) unit in Jinshan over the weekend of 26-27 April after completing annual maintenance, a company source said on Monday.
Maintenance work on the ACN unit, which consists of two 130,000 tonnes/year lines, started on 10 March, the source added.
The plant’s restart will increase the domestic ACN supply in May, which will put further downward pressure on prices in an already weak market, a trader said.
The domestic ACN market has been sluggish because of weak demand from downstream sectors such as acrylic fibre (AF), the trader added.
ACN prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 13,600-13,800/tonne ($2,173-2,204/tonne) ex-tank east China on 25 April, down by CNY 700-800/tonne compared with the prices on 1 April, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
Meanwhile, a second 260,000 tonne/year ACN unit at the same Jinshan site, which has been under construction since mid-March 2013, is expected to start up this year, the company source said, without disclosing a specific date.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-25
China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical restarted its 90,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit early this week following a scheduled maintenance, market sources said on Friday.
The plant resumed production on 22 April after being taken off line on 10 March, they said.
Shanghai SECCO has a new 90,000 tonne/year BD unit at the same site that is expected to start up in July, market sources said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-24
The smaller of the two butadiene (BD) extraction lines owned and operated by INEOS at its site in Dormagen, Germany, is back online, market sources said on Wednesday.
The unit was taken offline around 17 March for planned maintenance. Sources said it was restarted last week.
It was expected the company would aim to have the unit back online now it has permanently shut down its BD operation in Grangemouth, the UK.
The operational status has not been confirmed by the company, which does not usually comment on production.
INEOS has the capacity to produce 245,000 tonnes in total of BD at Dormagen, according to ICIS data.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-22
China’s Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Corp (ZRCC) will shut down its 165,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit at Ningbo in Zhejiang in mid-May for maintenance, market sources said on Tuesday.
The turnaround will last about 45 days, they said.
On 21 April, domestic BD prices in east China were assessed at yuan (CNY) 9,000-9,200/tonne delivered (DEL), down by CNY800/tonne from 4 April, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
ZRCC is a key BD producer in China.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-22
More than 400,000 tonnes/year of butadiene (BD) capacity is expected to come on stream in Europe by the end of 2015, a bank forecast on Tuesday.
The extra capacity should boost European synthetic rubber producers such as Poland-based Synthos by improving their competitive position against Asian counterparts, said Vienna-based Raiffeisen Centrobank (RCB).
Analysing the potential of BD expansion projects announced by LyondellBasell, BASF, Evonik, OMV, MOL and Versalis, RCB said that once in operation these investments should, in million tonnes/year, change Europe's BD production/capacity ratio from 2.0/2.4 to 2.2/2.8.
“More butadiene capacity means cheaper butadiene in Europe for Synthos and it is especially important as it is to launch new S-SBR [solution styrene butadiene rubber] capacity [of 100,000 tonnes/year in Krakow, Poland] in 2015,” said RCB analyst Dominik Niszcz.
“And cheaper butadiene in Europe versus the price in Asia will allow European [synthetic rubber] producers to buy cheaper raw material and sell rubber on Asian spot markets, with Asian producers often not integrated so the price of synthetic rubber in Asia is highly correlated with the butadiene price,” he added.
One drawback to Synthos from the expanded European BD capacity would be that the price production stemming from its own partially integrated production of BD would probably be weakened, Niszcz noted.
“The EU will be short in C4 but may be long in butadiene,” he said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-19
Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corp (GPPC) has shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant was shut early this week. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-04-18
South Korea’s Tongsuh Petrochemical plans to shut down its 245,000 tonne/year No 3 acrylonitrile (ACN) line in Ulsan for scheduled turnaround in May, a company source said on Friday.
“The plant will be shut around 10 May for around three weeks,” the source said.
The company’s 70,000 tonne/year No 2 ACN line - which was supposed to shut down in May - was already off line, the source added, but declined to give any reason.
Meanwhile, the company's 245,000 tonne/year No 4 line, at the same site is running normally.
Its 50,000 tonne/year No 1 ACN plant was mothballed in 2002.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-22
Japan’s Nippon Steel Chemical on 21 April restarted its 190,000 tonne/year No 2 styrene monomer (SM) facility after a turnaround, a company source said on Tuesday.
The unit, located in Oita, was shut in mid-March for scheduled maintenance.
“We are ramping up after the restart and will likely reach 100% output by the end of this week”, the source added.
The company operates another 230,000 tonne/year No 3 unit at the same location. This unit was restarted on 13 April after a maintenance shutdown that started in late February.
Other Japanese SM producers include Asahi Kasei Chemical and Idemitsu Kosan Co.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-04-22
South Korea’s SK Global Chemical (SKGC) restarted its 350,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM) facility in Ulsan over the weekend, market sources said on Tuesday.
“Raw material was fed into the plant on 19 April,” said a South Korean trader.
The facility, previously owned by BASF, was idled in 2008.
“The company hopes to achieve on-spec material today [22 April],” a source close to the company said.
The facility had been retrofitted by SKGC prior to the restart.
Others speculated that the company might need some time to achieve on-spec material.
“It could take some time, perhaps into May, for the plant to achieve on-spec SM,” said a South Korean broker.
Other South Korea SM producers include Samsung Total Chemical, LG Chem and Lotte Chemical.
SOURCE Icis News