Restrictions on caprolactam production continue in China / Environmental regulations threaten PA 6 feedstock / ADN is key for PA 6.6

Outsourcing of pharma production to emerging economies boosts packaging growth / Contract packaging forecast to grow by 9% per year to 2025 / Grand View Research report

Base Petrochemicals, Aromatics and Feedstocks: July / August 2017

Polyethylene July 2017: Cost reduction gives indication of the size of price cuts / Stabilisation over the month / Supply becomes tighter / Demand consistently strong / Consolidation probable in August

Polypropylene July 2017: Prices follow reference / Producers stop margin erosion / Bottoming-out lures buyers / August may see stability / Compounder bucks consensus

PVC July 2017: Cost reductions generally passed on / Titanium dioxide appears over the worst / Ongoing scarcity of plasticisers / PVC pastes still faring well / August notations tending sideways

Styrenics July 2017: Further premiums on PS and EPS / Butadiene's sharp drop puts pressure on ABS notations / Availability often limited despite holiday season / Slight reductions foreseeable in August

PET July 2017: Producers up their margins through price hikes despite falling costs / Imports thin on the ground / Demand driven by hot weather / August calmer but still under pressure

Ethylene: EU searched ethylene purchasers' premises due to suspicion of collusion / Clariant and Celanese affected

Shell's Pernis refinery in Rotterdam turned off due to fire / Shin-Etsu's PVC production affected / No force majeure as yet

Engineering Thermoplastics July 2017: Declining demand removes much of the pressure from possible price hikes / Rollovers dominate the picture / PMMA shoots up and is the exception / Summer lull will hit home in August

PO/TBA project on US Gulf gathers steam / Applications in polyurethanes

XPS panels to be solely produced in Ludwigshafen / "Styrodur" discontinued in Schwarzheide

PTA plant expansion completed in Rotterdam / Backward integration for European PET production

Distribution of Lerg's unsaturated polyester resins / Larger product portfolio for German market

Extended partnerships with Mito Polimeri and Plastotecnica / Distribution of high-performance plastics in Italy

Italian compounder acquires majority stake in German distributor Weber Kunststoffe

Profit warning issued / Forecast revised down in June / Lag in recovering costs

Sale of Labels division agreed with Multi-Color / Majority stake taken in US group / Proceeds to enable further acquisitions

Authorities get hold of 420 t of forbidden plastic bags / Large efforts across the country to go green

National initiative to replace single-use plastics with renewables by 2021

Severely restricted imports of plastic waste by end of 2017 / Official notification to the WTO

World Plastics Council undertakes marine litter combat / Increasing awareness for waste prevention concepts in Asia / G20 Action Plan announced in Hamburg

Steady growth forecast for the region's well-developed processing sector / AMI database

Global consumption to expand by 5.5% per year to 2020 / Strong demand from automotive sector / Smithers Rapra report