Base Petrochemicals, Aromatics and Feedstocks: December 2019/January 2020

Polyethylene December 2019: Small C2 increase ignored / Prices roll over or fall slightly / Producers suffer margin reductions / Demand affected by short working month / Little change expected in January

Polypropylene December 2019: All products roll over / Little change seen for January / Demand mostly below average

PVC December 2019: Few impulses in December / Notations stuck in a rollover / Modest demand at year's end January with slight markups

Styrenics December 2019: Further decreases with PS, EPS and ABS / All prices reach annual lows / Oversupply and weak demand continue / Possible trend reversal in January

PET December 2019: Prices bottom out / More expensive imports stabilise the lowest prices / Monthly contracts slip too / Recycled PET still costs more than virgin material / Calm start of the year

Engineering Thermoplastics December 2019: Year ends quietly / Production plants running with reduced output / January starts late because of weak automotive segment / Significant reductions announced for polyamide 6.6

French production of ADN restarts with additional capacity

Speciality chemicals group to sell masterbatch business to PolyOne / Pigment activities to be divested in 2020

Finalised agreement with Alabama for USD 175m ADN capacity expansion / Construction start in 2020

Drastic increase in free capacity for European road freight transport

New HGV toll system in the Czech Republic / Threat of heavy fines / German environment agency wants to raise toll charges

Cross-industry consortium to advance technology targeting hard-to-recycle PET waste / Alpla, Britvic, BP, Danone, Remondis and Unilever

Process technology for chemical recycling plastics waste / Development programme expanded / Commercial plant construction planned in 2020

PS recycling project with Agilyx in USA

Total, Mars and Nestlé test Recycling Technologies' pyrolysis process / Citeo project in France

FEAD highlights three key points for European chemical recycling talks / EU "Green Deal" welcomed

Demand to rise at 3.3% CAGR to 2024 / Plastic drums will post above-average gains / Chemicals and pharmaceuticals largest market

Damning report highlights growth of plastic packaging across supermarket sector / Rise in sale of reusable, thicker plastic carrier bags

Plastics production and sales climb in 2019 / Insolvencies set to rise / Automotive sector under pressure

Compounder opens second plant in Poland

Packaging manufacturer to acquire Poland's Masterchem / PET preforms, containers and closures

3D printing reaches critical mass in the industry / Companies relying on in-house printing / Time is key factor in development / “Formnext” trade fair in full flight