Ineos

Next steps in HDPE joint venture with Sasol proceed / New 470,000 t/y facility to be ready for start up in 2015

Selects Ineos licence for PP process for Ningbo site / Part of expansion programme to become major player

PVC industry group joins Swedish project to boost recycling in healthcare

Purchase of PE licence from Ineos for Huizhou petrochemicals site

Weighing LAO expansion in the US and Canada / PAO debottlenecking in US over, Belgium continues

Standard Thermoplastics June 2013: Margin improvement for PE smaller than hoped / Monomer boosts PP, PS and EPS / Tightness despite weak demand / Costs stable / More hikes ahead

EPS line in Marl to be shut down / Optimisation steps for remaining production sites / Site no longer profitable

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