LOS ANGELES
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March 31, 2023
(Industry Intelligence Inc.)
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US Resins US spot PE prices increased by US$0.01/lb across all grades during the week of March 20 in the PlasticsExchange marketplace. Meanwhile, Nova Chemical declared an unplanned force majeure from its cracking facility in Ontario, limiting access to feedstock for PE producers. The outage is one of several, but sluggish demand for PE has kept prices from spiking. PP contracts for March are expected to increase significantly after growing in both January and February. The primary source of this information is Plastics Today. Europe: Chemistry and Decarbonization European chemical companies including BASF, LyondellBasell and Yara are facing pressure to transition a way from fossil fuels. Investors responsible for US$4 trillion in assets published a joint statement in which one investor, Ethos Foundation, said that decarbonization is not optional. Yara responded to the statement, saying it currently has ambitions to become climate neutral by 2050. The primary source of this information is MRC. China Petrochemicals China’s refining capacity is expected to remain unchanged in 2023 at 92.4 million tonnes per year as seen in 2022. Projects that came online in 2022 included Guangdong Petrochemical’s 400,000 barrel/day operation, although the phasing out of three other independent refineries took 148,000 barrels per day offline. No new capacity is scheduled to start in 2023. However, Yulong Petrochemical’s private 400,000 barrel/day site is expected to come on stream in 2024. In addition, a joint refinery by Saudi Aramco, Xincheng and Norinco is expected to complete construction in 2025. The primary source of this information is S&P Global Platts.
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