PVC June 2017: Notations for base material declining further / Tight supplies of titanium dioxide and plasticisers fuel price rises for ready-to-use materials / Market situation set to remain virtually unchanged in July

PET June 2017: Notations stabilising / Good weather pushes up demand significantly / Imports declining somewhat / Tendency to firm likely in July too

Polyethylene June 2017: Price cuts mostly much bigger than the fall in costs / Film grades under particularly acute pressure because of oversupply / More reductions in July / Will there be a trend turnaround before the end of the month?

Polypropylene June 2017: Price declines exceed reference price dip / Imports pad supply / Buyers hold out for rebates / Market could bottom out in July

Styrenics June 2017: Notations for PS and EPS turn slightly upwards again / ABS tends further down / Demand lively / July expected to bring renewed rises for PS and EPS and reductions for ABS

Base Petrochemicals, Aromatics and Feedstocks: June / July 2017

Engineering Thermoplastics June 2017: June rollover repeats itself in July / Exception is PMMA that goes through the roof due to dramatic shortage of MMA / Subdued demand in the holiday period puts pressure on prices

All authorities clear merger / Loeb pushes six-way split / Dow Corning standalone?

Japanese airbag manufacturer makes bankruptcy application / US competitor Key Safety Systems takes over activities

Merger of acetate tow business with Blackstone / Projected sales of over USD 1 bn

Sale of former Spartech core area to Arsenal / Sheet, roll stock and packaging

Eni's petrochemicals subsidiary back in the black after many years / Switch to higher-grade products pays off

PA and PBT compounding plant starts at Schwarzheide / Output gain of 70,000 t/y

PE units in Texas ready for Q3 start-up / USD 6 bn Gulf Coast Project

Construction of enhanced LLDPE plant at Freeport completed / First of four projects

ABS lines to be sold in North America by GP Materials

Distribution warehouse established in southern Germany

New distribution pact with NRC / German-speaking Europe and Spain in focus

New branch office in Israel / Distributor for Huntsman Advanced Materials

German distributor to market BASF's polystyrene portfolio

Packaging manufacturer opens plant in Egypt

Acquisition of Dewit Plastics' closures operation / Deal will allow Dewit to focus on injection moulding

US packaging group opens customer centre in Spain / Product development of Europe's big brands

Acquisition of Spanish packaging producer Treplas

Acquisition of Mexican plastics converter Excel Nobleza

Joint development of recyclable film for food packaging with TIPA / New polyester plant in the USA planned

German packaging producer buys Jaco / Merger creates worldwide leader in effervescent packaging

Plastics sector fraught with structural difficulties / Dependence on imported raw materials / Private investments remain low / Upturn through economic stimulus programme / Pagev association demands removal of trade barriers

PIE talks to Helmut Maurer, senior expert at the European Commission, about the circular economy in Europe / A paradigm shift needed for product design / Regulations for sustainability