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Send RFQ’s | Find Chemical Suppliers Issue 4: 14th December 2009       As one force majeure ends, another is announced. Lower demand and market uncertainty sees methyl di-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) cuts in Belgium. Japan welcomes extension to naphtha tax exemption. Brazilian ethanol exports to the US slump. News from ICIS December’s ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) rose 3% to 246.80 as stronger demand helped producers in Asia implement substantial price hikes. The president of the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association welcomes the Japanese government’s decision to extend its two-year tax-exemption policy on naphtha. Sales by North American chemical distributors in 2008 were up from the year before, while accidents for that period were down. BP Refining and Petrochemicals has lifted the force majeure on ethylene and propylene supplies from its Gelsenkirchen 4 cracker in Germany. BASF subsidiary Elastogran is cutting output of MDI at its Antwerp, Belgium, facility because of lower demand and market uncertainty. A closed arbitrage window has limited Brazilian ethanol exports to the US in April-October to 152m litres, an 88% reduction from the same period a year earlier. Formosa declares force majeure on polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) because of a cracker outage at its Point Comfort complex in Texas, US. North American chemical distributors weigh the effects of the economic downturn. In the media Bayer and Dow Chemical reveal a licensing agreement for the global marketing of Bayer’s new biodiesel production technology. ExxonMobil Chemical announces the completion and start-up of an expansion at its Rotterdam Aromatics Plant in the Netherlands, making it the company’s largest paraxylene (PX) facility. Evonik Industries and its partner Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. are working on a new solar energy project, an integrated production plant for monosilane and AEROSIL. ICIS launches Europe Polyethylene Pipe Grade price report This new report delivers weekly contract prices for black, compounded, pressure grade HDPE-based pipe resins. It also includes Free Delivered (FD) Northwest Europe (NWE) price quotes for HDPE80 and HDPE100 grades, along with the latest market news and expert commentary. The Europe version of the report follows the success of similar ICIS reports covering the Middle East and Asian markets, which are already widely used to underpin commercial contracts. Request a free sample to see how this report can add much-needed clarity to your negotiations in this market.   Join the Chemical Purchasing group in Linkedin     ICIS Conferences     The 14th World Base Oils conference 18 - 19 February 2010   More conferences

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