South African petrochemical producer Sasol expects to start up the new 420,000 tons/year LDPE plant at its Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP) in Louisiana, in the third quarter of 2020, market sources told SSESSMENTS.COM. The startup was delayed after the unit caught fire during commissioning in January. The company also expects to start up a 30,000 tons/year Guerbet alcohols and a 173,000 tons/year Ziegler alcohols units in the same complex by late June.
Meanwhile, other market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM that PolyOne has seen April orders decline by 15% and sales decrease by 4% from a year earlier because of lower automotive demand and declining consumer spending amid shutdowns and other impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Coca-Cola has seen a 25% decline in sales volumes since early April as coronavirus containment measures cancelled concerts, conferences, and sports events, curbing consumers’ purchases on bottled drinks.
According to a customer letter seen by SSESSMENTS.COM, PBF Energy on Wednesday invoked force majeure on mixed xylenes and toluene production from its refinery in Toledo, Ohio. Meanwhile, DuPont suspended production at manufacturing sites and postponed some capital spending to deal with the global economic slowdown and pandemic-related uncertainty.
The price of US non-LST ethane increased by 5.7% from Thursday to 16.125 cents/gallon on Friday. US spot April ethylene price stood at 8.875 cents/pound in Mont Belvieu and 9 cents/pound FD Choctaw on Friday, rising by 0.125 cents and 1.125 cents, respectively.
On the same day, the price of US non-LST propane rose to 35.50 cents/gallon. US spot polymer-grade propylene (PGP) for April gained 0.75 cents/pound from the previous week to 25 cents/pound FD USG on Friday, while refinery-grade propylene increased 4.5 cents to 17.5 cents/pound FD USG, over the same period.
Spot export MEG prices dropped 0.50 cent/lb week-on-week to 13.5-14.5 cents/pound FOB USG on Friday. Meanwhile, spot butadiene prices decreased by 5.25 cents/pound to 13.75 cents/pound CIF USG over the same period, falling by 68% since March 6.
This week, US export ethylene dichloride (EDC) prices fell to a record-low of $60-$70/ton FOB USG, the lowest since June 1996. Meanwhile, US export PVC prices dipped $60/ton to $550/ton FAS Houston.
ExxonMobil cut HDPE and LLDPE offers by 2 cents/pound effective April 1. The price of US HDPE blowmolding dropped to 27-28 cents/pound ($596-$618/ton) FAS Houston, $22 lower than the prior week’s assessments. US LLDPE butene was steady compared to the previous week at 26-27 cents/pound ($574-$596/ton) FAS Houston. US LDPE prices also declined by $22 from the previous week to 39-40 cents/pound ($860-$882/ton) FAS Houston.
US copolymer and homopolymer PP prices respectively decreased by $121/ton to $904/ton and $860/ton FAS Houston. US domestic acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) prices inched down 1 cent to 73-74 cents/pound on a delivered basis.
US import PET prices were relatively steady compared to last week, at 39-40 cents/pound ($866-$888/ton). The domestic PET prices were also relatively unchanged at 49-50 cents/pound ($1,080-$1,102/ton) thanks to stable feedstock prices.
In the aromatics market, US paraxylene prices dropped $105/ton week-on-week to $390/ton FOB USG on Friday, dragged by high supply, weak demand, and a backlog at some ports in China. US benzene contracts for April and May dropped to 80 cents/gallon and 89 cents/gallon DDP USG, respectively on Friday.
US styrene monomer (SM) prices for April and May were relatively steady at $435/ton FOB USG on Friday US MTBE prices gained 9.30 cents/gallon to 65.50 cents/gallon FOB USG on Friday. US methanol prices were stable at 63.50 cents/gallon FOB USG on Friday. April nitration-grade toluene fell 5 cents week-on-week to 96 cents/gallon on the same day. April mixed xylenes prices edged down1 cent from the previous week to 106 cents/gallon on Friday.
