Ineos

Standard Thermoplastics May 2013: Producers hang onto some of their cost relief / Hopes of turnaround unfulfilled / Bottoming out points the way to balanced market / Hikes in June likely

Standard Thermoplastics PVC May 2013: Large percentage of cost reductions passed on / Plasticised compounds strong downward adjustment / Paste prices also falling / Consolidation in June

S-PVC price increases in June

Bankruptcy staved off once again / Ministry of economics roundtable slated for June

Swiss company to buy Mitsui Chemicals PAN business / Long-term resin supply across Asia

Joint venture with Tianjin Bohai Chemical to build world-scale acrylonitrile facility in China / Initial capacity of 260,000 t/y to come on stream in 2016

Q1 earnings decline 12% but Company still expects growth for full year / Trading conditions remain weak for vinyls and polyamide

PVC joint venture with Solvay / Combined projected sales of EUR 4.3 bn / Potential to be in the global top three

Ambitious recovery plan for Italian producer / Set to reduce commodity dependency

S-PVC price drops in May

Q1 profits fall by 11% following Lavera cracker outage / North America business benefits from low-cost feedstocks

Chinese olefins, polyolefins units licence Honeywell and LyondellBasell processes

Arkema to take EUR 125m charge for former PVC business / Six-month search for new owner

Plastics and rubber products output falls 2.6% in 2012 / Negative business trend continues into 2013 / World's largest per capita plastics producer / Federplast survey

Standard Thermoplastics PVC March 2013: Deep freeze in building sector allows only minimal cost pass-through for S-PVC base / Rising plasticiser prices drive S-PVC (P) compounds / April picture dominated by rollover, despite falling ethylene notation

Painful necessities

S-PVC prices roll over

China Engineering Thermoplastics February/March 2013: Feedstock prices down post-Chinese new year / Plans to hike ABS prices / PC also rising / Little movement for polyamides, PBT and POM

Caustic soda price increase

Joint venture with Sinopec YPC to build China's largest phenol facility / At least 400,000 t/y capacity to come on stream in 2015

Downturn in European olefins and polyolefins business hits 2012 operating profit / Cheaper feedstocks benefit US

PVC compounds business to be sold to Mitsubishi / Profile processing activities divested as planned

Higher European suspension PVC list prices

Former Vinyls Italia Ravenna plant now in liquidation / PVC production consigned to dustbin

Standard Thermoplastics Trend February 2013: Buyers turn a deaf ear on hike plans / Stable costs dampen momentum / Demand still slack / First upstream cost rises appear / Price spiral could turn upward