Base Petrochemicals, Aromatics and Feedstocks: August/September 2019

Polyethylene August 2019: Weak rollovers dominate despite small cost hike / Business a bit livelier but still slow / Lower ethylene reference for September points to price cuts

Polypropylene August 2019: Deep demand trough triggers rollover / Nowhere an impetus to buy / September C3 reference price plunges / Rebates certain

PVC August 2019: Producers fail to price in higher costs / Rollovers dominate with just a few exceptions / Holiday season impacts market / Cost side points to price reductions

Styrenics August 2019: Prices trend moderately upward / SM cost increase mostly passed on partially / Weak demand during peak holiday season / Further hikes in September

PET August 2019: Notations continue to give way / Demand still disappointing / More favourably priced imports / Little stimulus in sight for a market revival in September

Engineering Thermoplastics August 2019: Rollover domination a surprise / Market dead as a doornail / Transactions almost non-existent / Business expected to pick up in September / Heavy price pressure prevails

EU imposes tariffs on PET manufactured in India

Polyethylene imports skyrocket in first half of 2019 / Much less cargo from US amid trade war

Escalation of US-China trade dispute hits plastics once more / Full product lists published

Volume of goods handled in Houston harbour set to break records / Expansion investments running into billions

New trilateral consortium aims to make crackers more sustainable / Project of EU-based petchem giants backed by national and regional governments

Chinese cracker now online / Ethane sourced from US

Group changes name to Orbia Advance Corporation / Strategic reorientation / Sharp drop in sales and profit / Margins slump in PET business

US arm Motiva to buy Flint Hills chemicals complex / Gulf expansion continues

Japanese group to acquire BASF's pigments business for EUR 1 bn / Ambitious medium-term growth strategy

Regulation governing heavy fuel oil in shipping sector pushes up cost of carbon blacks and masterbatches / Cabot and Orion make price adjustments

New additive enhances sliding properties of medical plastic components

Masterbatch specialist puts EUR 20m into new plant in Germany

UK masterbatch group launches colour match service for recyclate

Masterbatch for near-infrared sorting of black and coloured plastics

Blue masterbatch for post-consumer recycled plastics

Infrared sortable black masterbatches for packaging

Presence in run-off could threaten drinking water / Cautious WHO report says more data needed / Monomers leached into environment during polymerisation not primary concern

UN establishes global plastics waste prevention group / Marine litter reduction the goal

Aimplas project to probe wastewater treatment technology in Valencia / Standardised methodology is needed

More than 5,000 t of plastics enter the environment each year / Discharges into the soil are 40 times greater than those into freshwater / Lake Geneva heavily contaminated with macroplastics

Global e-commerce growth drives packaging innovations / Integrated smart technologies could benefit customers and companies / Smithers Pira report