World's leading plastics trade fair opens its doors soon / Industry looks to Düsseldorf with anticipation / Sustainability and recycling to be dominant topics / KI Group more active than ever

Turnover for H1 2019 down on 2018 / Heavy falls in June / Technical components still a big worry / Industrial packaging, building products and consumer goods also on the decline

Groundbreaking for 750,000 t/y propylene facility in Belgium

Construction of ethane cracker in Shaanxi province begins / Downstream PE totalling 800,000 t/y

Saudi Arabia aims to meet all supply commitments in September / Petrochemical deliveries gather speed

Acquisition of Vincap & Adolfse / Food and pharma applications augment range

Partnerships with PureCycle Technologies and Loop e-commerce platform / Deal with Nippon Closures for tethered bottle caps / H1 sales up 5% on strong pharma demand

Pet food packaging facilities in France and Germany upgraded

PET bottles converted into big bags for the European market / Collaboration in Indonesia to reduce local waste

Plans to put USD 1 bn into PET bottle recycling / M&As a major strategy

Food-grade PET with up to 25% recyclate from chemical recycling

UK drinks group rolls out bottles made from recycled and bioplastics

Participation in Chinese e-commerce alliance / Development of PET beer bottle in Brazil

Strong growth in recycling rate of post-consumer packaging in 2018 / Total of almost 572,000 t / Cicloplast report

Resorts ban single-use items / Rome metro trials bottle recycling system

Consumption drops across public sector in Wales / Wrap to issue procurement guidance

Tonnage decreases with challenging two years after China's import ban / "Strong domestic markets for recycling" / CPIA report

Shanghai's waste separation law in effect / Demand for plastic bins climbs / Hainan island bans single-use plastics

North America August 2019: Prices move sideways or downwards / Trade conflict and economic slump dampen demand / Export business limping along / No increases expected for September

China Standard Thermoplastics August 2019: Most polymer notations decrease / Low demand and abundant supply / Negative impacts of unfavourable foreign exchange and US-China trade war

Russia August 2019: Polyolefins firmer in roubles / PET falling / Rollovers across the board in September

China Engineering Thermoplastics August 2019: PC and PMMA prices rise / ABS, PA 6, PA 6.6 and PBT notations head downwards / Negative impacts from unfavourable foreign exchange rates

Standard Thermoplastics Trend September 2019: Reductions move PE and PVC prices towards cost target / PP producers improve their margins / Styrenics follow SM reference upwards

Standard Recyclate September 2019: Price cuts and rollovers predominate / Expected upturn in demand did not materialise / Attacks in Saudi Arabia could stimulate interest in recyclates / Widespread rollovers expected in October

Engineering Recyclate September 2019: First price cuts in mid-month / Order activity expected to remain slow in October / Price cuts likely to spread

Perturbations from drone attacks could drive up polyolefin notations

Polyurethane Feedstocks September 2019: MDI polymer and TDI tend further upwards / Demand from auto and furniture industries remains weak / Current trends likely to continue in October

Global average payment duration fell to 65 days in 2018 in line with economic slowdown / China sees longest average payment term / Electronics and construction sectors suffer / Euler Hermes report