Base Petrochemicals, Aromatics and Feedstocks: February / March 2018

Polyethylene February 2018: Producers mostly succeed in passing on cost increases / High stock levels reduce customers' need to buy / Falling costs create space for price cuts in March

Polypropylene February 2018: Price hikes exceed producer cost rise / Outages narrow supply / Impetus for upswing weakens / Sideways movement likely

PVC February 2018: Producers win only small margin improvements with base grades / Rigid compounds again move up at above-average rate / Upward pressure likely to continue in March

Styrenics February 2018: Three-digit premiums on PS and EPS / Significant SM cost increase fuels notations / High price level dampens demand / Continued upward momentum in March

PET February 2018: Slight increases in Europe / Clear upswing in the US / Prices picking up in Asia too / Rising seasonal demand could push up notations more clearly in March

Engineering Thermoplastics February 2018: Drive with PC and polyamides continues uninterrupted / Dramatic bottlenecks with PA 6.6 / PBT, POM and PMMA stable at high level / More upward pressure on the market

PVC producer now out of external administration / Investments of EUR 300m for several projects

China considers anti-dumping duties on styrene monomer / US, South Korea and Taiwan affected

PA 6.6: Radici Chimica declares force majeure on base polymers / Compounds unaffected / Improved situation for HMD at BASF's Seal Sands site

Operating profit up by a third in 2017 / Upstream businesses drive revenues / Higher prices and margins / Ludwigshafen TDI plant back up by April?

Strong sales and earnings in 2017 / PU feedstocks and PC profit from higher prices and volumes / Strategy focused on sustainability and digitalisation

Hurricane "Harvey" and China help boost 2017 earnings / Company mulls building new PP plant in Europe

First quarter sales and profits rise as restructuring bears fruit / Modest recovery in EMEA

New projects for waste management / Chinese investors to build plastics recycling factories / Novamont in talks with local authorities

Environmental fee on plastic carrier bags in shops / Alignment with EU directive to curb consumption / Greek plastics industry association foresees problems

Plastic carrier bag ban to come into effect 1 July / Packaging deposit scheme under discussion / National waste programme not yet up to EU standards

Global sales slightly higher in 2017 / Mexico and Russia show fastest growth / NPD study

ECHA tests find restricted phthalates in toys / Most products REACH-compliant

Share of German toy market erodes further / 2017 “not an easy year”

Toy makers' revenues take a hit amid disappointing Christmas sales

Turnover trending up in 2017 / Toy manufacturer aims for further growth through licensed products

Consolidations put significant brake on German toy group / Sales only slightly above previous year's level

Consumption forecast to rise more than 10% in 2017 / Urbanisation and spread of supermarket chains drive demand / Injection moulding leads plastic processing capabilities / Pagev report and AMI database