Shale gas revolution in the USA leaves its mark on PP feedstock / Detachment from ethylene becomes ever more noticeable / Worldwide US exports take off due to flood of propane / Volatility creates unrest in downstream markets

Concerns raised over supply of caprolactam and PA / Europe hit by force majeures

Announcement of large new PE line in Europe / Major expansion similarly planned in the USA

Higher volumes, selling prices boost Q1 earnings / Full-year forecast revised upward

Sales and earnings grow strongly in Q1 / Positive forecast for 2017 unchanged

Expansion of ASA and ABS production in the Americas / Growing demand from key industries

Caps and closures manufacturer apparently to be sold / Red figures in recent years / High level of debt

Investor Wendel considers sale / Goldman Sachs hired to evaluate options / Proceeds to fund further acquisitions

Plant in France to be closed / Relocation of production to Ireland and Spain

Food and drink solutions to be launched at “interpack” / Plans for Malaysia investment also to be revealed

Injection moulding expansion in Slovakia

Extension of clean room extrusion for pharmaceutical film

Paperboard specialist installs PE coating line in Sweden / Entry into plastics processing

Standard Thermoplastics Trend May 2017: Continuation of downwards trend from second half of April / Slight reductions for polyolefins / Styrenics plummeting along with monomer / Only PVC still firmer

Standard Recyclate May 2017: Heterogeneous notations / rLDPE still under pressure / Rollover for rPP / rPET increasing / Continued good supply in most cases / Positive stimuli only for consumer applications

Polyurethane Feedstocks May 2017: Tight MDI drives prices higher / Both MDI and TDI on a level with Asia / No relief immediately visible / Isocyanates pull polyols upward

Engineering Recyclate May 2017: Most prices tend sideways / June expected to see only little price movement as adjustments on the primary market trickle through / Ongoing strong demand likely to ease

Trading prices for polyolefins pointing downwards

North America April 2017: Rally with standard plastics comes to an end / PE and PVC stagnate / PP and PS drift downwards / Engineering plastics on the up again but turnaround also expected here

Russia April 2017: Only marginal increases evident / PET surprisingly weak

Plastics industry is accelerating / Rising global importance / Domestic polymer consumption to reach 20m t by 2020 / Two-digit growth anticipated for propylene and PVC

EPS: BASF manager Klaus Ries talks about the market, HBCD, the image of insulation and packaging recycling