DATE : 2015-01-08
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC) has restarted its No. 1 styrene monomer (SM) plant.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the No.1 plant restarted around one week back. It was shut in mid-December 2014 on account of weak market conditions.
Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-01-06
Showa Denko is in plans to shut its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant will be shut in March 2015. It is planned to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located at Oita in Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 175,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2015-01-05
Lucite International is in plans to shut its methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be shut early this week. The duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained.
Located in Shanghai, China, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2015-01-06
Iran styrene monomer (SM) producer Pars Petrochemical has shut its 600,000 tonne/year plant in Asaluyeh on 1 January because of a technical issue, a source close to the company said on Tuesday.
The technical glitch is expected to be resolved soon and the plant is scheduled to be restarted next week, the source added.
Pars Petrochemical is a unit of state-owned National Petrochemical Corp (NPC).
Other SM producers include SABIC and Chevron Phillips in Saudi Arabia and The Kuwait Styrene Co.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2015-01-06
Monsanto Company announced today an agreement to extend the relationship with FMC Agricultural Solutions which will benefit corn, cotton and soybean growers through Roundup Ready PLUS® Crop Management Solutions. This agreement broadens the Roundup Ready PLUS Crop Management Solutions relationship to include Hero® insecticide.
Monsanto's Roundup Ready PLUS platform empowers farmers to maximize the performance of their Roundup Ready® crops through local research-supported crop management recommendations.Monsanto's relationship with FMC began in the fall of 2010 with the inception of Roundup Ready PLUS Weed Management Solutions. For the 2015 growing season, Roundup Ready PLUS® Weed Management Solutions has evolved beyond weed management to become Roundup Ready PLUS Crop Management Solutions. Today, Monsanto and its partners continue to develop effective, economical and sustainable approaches to controlling tough-to-control and glyphosate-resistant weeds, as well as insects and diseases.
FMC herbicides that will continue to be endorsed under the agreement include the Authority® brand of soybean pre-emergence residual herbicides: Authority® Assist, Authority® First, Authority® Maxx, Authority® MTZ and Authority® XL.
Hero insecticide is a powerful combination of two pyrethroid-based insecticides with complimentary activity against 45 labeled insects that other products may miss. Some of those insects include kudzu bug, aphids and mites on soybeans, as well as brown marmorated stinkbug on soybeans and some corn hybrids.
Hero insecticide is an effective tank-mix partner with fungicides, post-herbicides and foliar fertilizers and offers a broad -spectrum and increased length of control on multi-pest complexes common in corn, soybeans and cotton, as well as more than 80 labeled crops.
“The relationship with FMC Agricultural Solutions helps us ensure that growers have an additional tool for crop management that allows their crops to thrive,” said Chris Reat, Roundup Ready PLUS marketing manager at Monsanto. “By enhancing the Roundup Ready PLUS platform with Hero® insecticide, we are ensuring corn, soybean and cotton growers have access to an excellent product for managing insects and protecting crop yield”.
“We look forward to extending the Roundup Ready PLUS portfolio to include insecticides for corn, soybean and cotton growers, and continuing this strong relationship with FMC so that we can continue to provide the highest industry standard solutions for growers' bottom-line benefits,” Reat said.
SOURCE Benziga
DATE : 2015-01-05
German chemicals producer Evonik said Monday it plants to make an extra 165,000 mt a year of MTBE available to the European market in the second quarter.
Evonik said it aims to start using its increased MTBE capacity at Marl in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium in Q2.
The company's butadiene capacity in Antwerp is also set to increase by 100,000 mt/year.
"We aim to go on stream with 165,000 mt MTBE (in Marl and Antwerp) and 100,000 mt butadiene [in Antwerp] in the second quarter of 2015," a company spokesman said.
In January 2013, Evonik announced that it would expand its production facilities in Marl and Antwerp to strengthen its position in the market for C4-based products.
Current European MTBE capacity is estimated at roughly 5.8 million mt/year, meaning that Evonik will increase European capacity by almost 3%.
SOURCE Platts Commodity News
DATE : 2014-12-22
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) will be shutting its methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant will be shut in early January 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 98,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-12-23
Samsung Total is in plans to take off-stream its styrene monomer plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is planned to be shut in April 2015. It is expected to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2015-01-05
China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical has shut down its 260,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) line in Shanghai for a month-long maintenance, a company source said on Monday.
The unit was taken off line early this month, the source said without specifying the shutdown date.
Shanghai SECCO has a new ACN that has the same capacity at the site that is expected to be started up in April, the source said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-12-22
US-based Styrolution has restarted one of two styrene units in Belgium following a maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Belgium informed that the unit restarted on December 20, 2014. It could not be ascertained as to which of the two units were shut for maintenance.
The company operates two styrene lines in Antwerp, Belgium with production capacities of 240,000 mt/year and 260,000 mt/year respectively.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-12-23
Asahi Kasei Chemical is likely to shut its styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be shut in mid-September 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located at Mizushima in Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 390,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-12-29
The supply of acrylonitrile (ACN) in Asia is expected to tighten in the first quarter of 2015 because of the heavy turnarounds at regional producers, and this will put a cap on the downtrend in prices, sources said.
Several Asian producers will shut down plants in the coming months for scheduled maintenance, which may put a stop to falling ACN prices, sources said.
China-based ACN producer, Anqing Petrochemical, plans to shut its 80,000 tonne/year line at Anqing in Anhui province for maintenance, a company source said.
The maintenance starting in January will last for about 20 days, resulting in a loss of about 5,000 tonnes of ACN, the source added.
Elsewhere, China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical plan to shuthttp://www.icis.com/Articles/2014/11/19/9839775/Chinas-Shanghai-SECCO-Petrochemi cal-to-shut-ACN-unit-in-Jan.htmlits 260,000 tonne/year ACN unit in Jinshan in early January 2015 for a month, a company source said.
Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) is also expected to shut its 280,000 tonne/year ACN plant in Mailiao for scheduled maintenance, a company source said.
The plant is going to be shut in the first half of January, and the shutdown will last around three weeks to one month, the source said.
South Korea's Taekwang Petrochemical is expected to shuthttp://www.icis.com/Articles/2014/12/16/9846811/s-koreas-taekwang-petrochemical- to-shut-acn-plant-for-maintenance.htmlits 290,000 tonne/year ACN plant for scheduled maintenance from 25 February to 16 March, a company source said.
Presently, falling feedstock costs and new capacity start-ups in China has dragged ACN prices down to $1,800-1,920/tonne CFR NE Asia, sources said.
China’s Shandong Keluer Chemical Co is running its new 130,000 tonne/year plant in Dongying at around 60%, a company source said. The company, which is a joint venture between Sinopec and Wanda Petrochemical Group, started trial runs at the unit in late November.
On the feedstock front, Asia propylene prices fell to $570-660/tonne CFR NE Asia, and this has boosted the profits of ACN producers given the wide price gap between propylene and ACN.
However, most market participants said ACN price decline may slow down or even rebound in the first quarter amid the limited supply, sources said. “I think ACN prices may recover in January and February as the supply in China is limited, ” a regional trader said. The ACN supply-demand balance will tilt tight in the first quarter, but the tightness will ease from the second quarter because of the increasing new supply from China, sources said.
China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical plans to start up its new 260,000 tonne/year ACN plant in the second quarter, a company source said.
“China’s imports in 2015 will definitely be reduced in line with the rising supply in domestic market,” a market player said. China imported 461,901 tonnes of ACN in the first eleven months, official data showed.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2015-01-05
Asia styrene monomer (SM) market looks uncertain going into the new year after prices slumped below $900/tonne in the first half of December, a level not seen since May 2009.
The fall in energy futures over the past few months caused petrochemical prices to fall.
Subsequently SM tumbled from $1,510/tonne CFR (cost & freight) China in September to below $900/tonne CFR China in December.
Trade in Asia has thinned out after the precipitous fall in prices.
Market players have become increasingly concerned about the ability and willingness of counterparties to perform recently closed deals.
Hence market participants have chosen to stay on the sidelines fearing volatility while traders are preferring not to add on positions.
“The market is very uncertain now and most traders are not putting on new positions,” said a trader in Singapore.
Market players expect the uncertainty as well as the prevailing muted trade to extend into the first quarter of this year.
“It will take some time for market players to regain confidence to re-enter the market; also traders have to sort out previously concluded deals as they fear some parties might become financially not viable after the price plunge,” said a broker in South Korea.
Demand for SM from the downstream styrenic resins sector continued to wane amid the year-end lull season.
Most resins buyers had completed production requirements for 2014 and have decided to hold low inventories.
Resin traders expected users to replenish some resin stocks in late December and January, ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays in February. However, they do not expect a significant increase in demand for resins.
“Most resin producers are trimming output due to weak demand, hence consumption of SM is likely to stay weak into the first quarter,” said a resin producer in Taiwan.
With economic malaise continuing to grip major economies like China, the Eurozone and Russia, coupled with unrest in Ukraine and the Middle East, international trade is expected to be increasingly challenged.
Consequently, demand for Asia made goods from the Eurozone and the US could stay soft in 2015.
“Deflationary pressures are increasingly globally and Chinese exports of finished goods remained weaker than previous years,” said a major moulder in southern China.
Chinese moulders catering to the export markets continued to report weaker than expected orders for finished goods.
Most anticipate order inflows for finished goods to stay flat in 2015 given the weak global economic expansion.
SM is a liquid chemical used to make plastic resins like polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) as well as synthetic rubbers like styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR) and styrene-butadiene-latex (SBL).
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-12-19
Indonesia’s Chandra Asri has shut down its 100,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) extraction unit following an unplanned outage at its 600,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker in Cilegon in West Java, market sources said.
“We expect the BD unit to be offline till the end of the month,” market sources said.
The unexpected shutdown may result in a BD production loss of about 3,000 tonnes, if it is shut till the end of the month, according to market sources.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-12-18
German chemicals group BASF announced it has agreed to sell its 50% stake in the styrene monomer and propylene oxide production joint venture Ellba Eastern to partner Shell.
The venture is operated by Shell and is fully integrated into the company`s site on Jurong Island, south-western Singapore. It launched operations in 2002 and has has an annual capacity of 250,000 metric tons of propylene oxide and 550,000 metric tons of styrene monomer.
The transaction will not affect the two companies` Netherlands-based joint venture Ellba.
At the same time, BASF and Shell have signed a supply contract, under which Shell will provide BASFwith propylene oxide.
SOURCE SeeNews Germany