chemical Prices

Constantly declining crude is likely to put delays on the purchase of new chemical cargoes as buyers may seek the impact of falling crude on the downstream industries. Oil prices were slashed down by 30 percent on Tuesday.   However, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects second-quarter prices for Brent to be USD 37 per barrel before rising to USD 42 per barrel in the second half of the year. This will definitely impact the international prices of major petrochemicals.  Falling crude is likely to suppress the Benzene prices which may directly impact the phenol consumers, who would have to pay a lesser amount. Moreover, Polycarbonate players are making further delays in procuring raw materials as crude is likely to plummet. Amidst reduced demand, the base-oil buyers have postponed their crude buying plans, anticipating better margins if the decline sustains.  Acrylate producers are pessimistic about the market since global demand has slowed down and is l...

The prices of Chlor Alkali products including Caustic Soda, Soda Ash, and Chlorine have been experiencing a high price rise this year. The prices of Caustic Soda in October have reached $210 per tonne in the Asian markets which are almost 160% high as compared to prices in the mid of the year. Similarly, the prices of light Soda Ash have reached an alarming of $489 per tonne which is almost $198 higher than prices in the mid of the year.  The reasons for high prices are tight supply and firm demand. The supply has been tight in China due to the impact of the control policy. The companies have been stopping production or are working at lower operating rates. Additionally, the operating rates have been affected by the environmental protection inspections, and recent power outages in several factories.  The demand has been bullish from various sectors in such as construction and cleaning both of which are reviving from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The demand is particu...

Louisiana Governor Edwards and the USA’s leading gas and chemicals provider, Air Products, in the latest announcement disclosed their plan to build a blue hydrogen clean energy complex worth USD 4.5 billion in Ascension Parish near Burnside. The mega project will facilitate the production of 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen by permanently sequestering the associated carbon dioxide emissions. The project, scheduled to reach completion by 2026, will be boasting the world’s largest permanent carbon dioxide sequestration infrastructure that will be capturing and cloistering 95% of the facility’s carbon dioxide emissions amounting to a volume of 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. This project is part of Louisiana’s long-term goal of achieving zero greenhouse gases emissions by 2050. Hydrogen is termed as “blue” when it is produced from fossil fuels like natural gas with simultaneous capturing and storing of the carbon dioxide released from the process. Thi...

 Ministry of Science and Technology today revealed that a team of Indian scientists has developed a new biodegradable polymer using guar gum and Chitosan. The polymer is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and biodegradable in nature. The fabricated guar gum-chitosan film has high water stability, high mechanical strength, weather resistance.  Both guar gum and chitosan are polysaccharides that are extracted from guar beans and shells of crabs and shrimps. Polysaccharides are biopolymers having a high potential for use in packaging applications. However, there are some disadvantages of using polysaccharides in polymer applications such as low mechanical properties, high water-solubility, and low barrier properties. This is the reason why scientists have done research to overcome these drawbacks in order to develop a viable polymer.  The scientists have fabricated a guar gum-chitosan composite film which is a cross-linked polysaccharide without using any plasticizer usin...

The US Department of Energy has chosen the Shell-led consortium to showcase the feasibility of a large-scale tank for the storage of liquid hydrogen at the export and import terminals. The Shell consortium will be investigating the storage capability and the cost competitiveness of the 20,000-100,000 cubic meters storage tanks at the international trading terminals. The project will receive a total of USD 12 million in funding, with the US Department of Energy investing USD 6 million and Shell and McDermott each contributing USD 3 million. USA-based Royal Dutch Shell, which is going to lead the project, is the world’s leading multinational oil and gas conglomerate that is actively investing in world-class green technologies and transforming its business to achieve sustainable production processes. The other consortium members include McDermott International, the University of Houston, NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, and the Florida-based GenH2. Each member of the consortium will be playi...

High-Density Polyethylene prices in Asia dropped further as market participants are bracing the repercussions caused by the new wave of COVID in several economies. Demand in some sectors was noted healthy such as packaging and medical plastic due to changed consumer behavior amidst increased cases of infection while some faced the brunt of market uncertainties In China, the supplies of HDPE were seen lengthening due to the commissioning of two new Polyethylene (PE) facilities. China's Lianyungang Petrochemical (a subsidiary of Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical) and Huatai Shengfu's new 400 KTPA HDPE and 400 KTPA LLDPE/HDPE units have been the latest entrants into the Asian HDPE market in April 2021. Ex-works Jiangsu (China) price of HDPE Pipe grade slipped to USD 1339 per MT as of the week ending 21st May. The news comes against the backdrop of Malaysia's Lotte Titan shutting its 220 KTPA high-density polyethylene (HDPE) swing unit starting July for maintenance-related wor...

June 2021 witnessed China’s unprecedented move to introduce consumption tax impacting the imports of light cycle oil and mixed aromatics which have significantly diminished their imports into the country in the third quarter of 2021, prompting the country to covet higher crude oil imports to support greater domestic output. The imposed consumption tax, which amounts to USD 0.2363 per liter of light cycle oil and mixed aromatics, has escalated the costs of these materials supplied by South Korea and other international traders. In July, China imported 20,000 barrels/day of light cycle oil which was lower than its average import volume of 390,000 barrels/day in the first two quarters of the year. August also witnessed low volumes of imports rounded to 30,000 barrels/day, which was just above the July volumes but considerably lower than China’s traded volumes before implementation of the levies. Likewise, the import of mixed aromatics stood at 70,000 and 30,000 barrels/day in July and Au...

The European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) market is undergoing dynamic variations with multiple plant turnarounds lined up in the third and fourth quarters of the running year. The downtime of the production units, mostly for accomplishing fixtures and maintenance work, is a function of both planned and unplanned necessities.  Europe boasts a total installed capacity of 8.7 million tonnes of PVC per annum. With many major production facilities being inoperative at the moment, Europe is witnessing the loss of one-third of its total production volume. For instance, INOVYN, a leading PVC producer in the UK, had to shut down its 320 KTPA polyvinyl chloride and 250 KTPA vinyl chloride monomer plants for an indefinite period, following the supply shortage of feedstock vinyl chloride monomer. PVC is an economical and high-tensile strength thermoplastic polymer with applications in a variety of daily-used products.  The major share of the PVC market is drawn by the pipes and fittings se...

  As we know that the focus on renewable energy is increasing which is supported by both government and private sector investments in the sector. This is strongly driving the demand for Soda Ash which has major applications in flat glass for solar applications.  It is due to this increased demand for Soda Ash which is the reason for upwards firmness in the prices of Soda Ash in India in the recent scenario.  The industries which use Soda Ash as a key ingredient in their manufacturing process have swung back into action post-COVID constraints and are working at full operating efficiency. It is expected that the rise in demand will continue with sustainable growth foreseen in both the construction and automobile sectors. More significantly, as the focus on sustainability increases, even higher growth is and will continue to be witnessed in the demand for PV solar panels which are made of high-quality solar flat glass.  Soda Ash is a product of the Chlor Alkali process...