Chemical News
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Atlantic met coal: US HCC pricing reflect heightened spot offer levels Apr 11,2017
Atlantic met coal markets Monday saw hefty increases in offers after US miners chased the $300/mt FOB mark. A trader believed there would be greater interest in fixed price deals to lock in deals at above $200/mt FOB, given the margin improvement at the mine from earlier levels. Crossover coals moving into met coal from thermal coal markets is l...>>>
Peru's copper, gold, zinc shipments rise in February Apr 11,2017
Peruvian export volumes of copper, gold, zinc, tin and molybdenum gained in February, while silver and lead shipments fell, the government said Monday. Total metals export revenue jumped 59.8% from a year earlier to $2.23 billion in February, the central bank said in a statement posted on its website. Copper shipments gained 44.2% to 231,300 ...>>>
Australia's thermal coal exports to rise 0.7%/year through fiscal 2021-2022 Apr 11,2017
Australia's thermal coal exports are forecast to grow 0.7%/year through to fiscal 2021-2022 (July-June)on demand from India and the ASEAN towards the end of the period, according to the government's Resources and Energy Quarterly released late Friday. Exports totaled 201.3 million mt in fiscal 2015-2016, and are estimated at 202.2 million mt for...>>>
Oil, gold jump as missile attacks on Syria trigger safe-haven rush Apr 11,2017
Crude oil prices surged more than 2% in Asian trade Friday as jittery investors, fearing potential supply disruptions, stepped up purchases after the US launched missile attacks on Syria, while gold surged more than 1% with investors queueing up for safe-haven assets. The US fired a barrage of cruise missiles at Syria following this week's chemi...>>>
US Congress calls for CFIUS review of Rosneft's potential stake in Citgo Apr 11,2017
A deal to give Russia's Rosneft 49.9% ownership of US refiner Citgo if Venezuela's cash-strapped national oil company PDVSA defaults on its loans threatens US national security and should be investigated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, two US congressmen have said. "This would give Russia clear control over the sixth...>>>
Commodity derivatives trading on SGX in Mar rises 35% on month Apr 11,2017
Commodity derivatives trading on the Singapore Exchange in March increased 34.66% month on month to 2 million transactions, SGX data on Monday showed. A contributing factor in the increase was a rise in the cleared futures volumes, which surged 48.74% month on month to 1.6 million contracts in March from 1.1 million contracts in February. The...>>>
Russian crude Urals at its highest so far this year on strong month-end demand Apr 11,2017
Russian crude Urals for loading out of the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk has spiked over 90 cents/barrel last week, to stand at its highest of the year so far, due to strong month-end demand for Urals. CIF Augusta-delivered Urals crude was assessed at Dated Brent minus $0.98/b Friday, up 21.5 cents/b day on day, to stand at its highest since De...>>>
China's Jan-Feb magnesium output up 6.7% on year at 139,400 mt Apr 12,2017
Output of Chinese magnesium smelters in the first two months of this year reached 139,400 mt, an increase of 6.7% from the same 2016 period, according to figures released Tuesday by China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. China's top magnesium producing district, northwestern Shaanxi province, churned out 68,200 mt between January and Febr...>>>
Brazil's Braskem lowers domestic PE prices, keeps domestic PP unchanged: source Apr 12,2017
Brazilian polyethylene producer Braskem will cut its domestic prices this week after no changes since the start of April, a company source said Tuesday. Brazilian domestic polypropylene prices will remain stable, the source added. Low-density PE and linear low-density PE will prices will each be lowered by about Real 150/mt (around $48/mt), w...>>>
Malaysian Lotte Chemical shuts Pasir Gudang crackers on water cut Apr 12,2017
Malaysia's Lotte Chemical Titan unexpectedly shut its No. 1 and 2 naphtha-fed steam crackers at Pasir Gudang Tuesday due to an interruption of water supplies, sources close to the company said. Over the last weekend, a domestic utilities company was carrying out upgrading works which led to the water cut. Water supplies were currently being r...>>>
Ineos Nitriles lifts FM on ACN supply in Europe: source Apr 12,2017
Ineos Nitriles has lifted its declaration of force majeure on European supply of acrylonitrile after restarting production from its Seal Sands, UK and Cologne, Germany plants at the end of March, a source close to the company said Tuesday. "All European plants are running and Ineos can now supply contractual customers," the source said. Ineos...>>>
Asia: The week in petrochemicals Apr 12,2017
Sentiment across Asia's petrochemical markets will be a mixed bag this week as price directions were unclear. Turnaround season for steam crackers in the region could tighten spot supply and push prices up. But limited buying interest, on weaker downstream demand and lower plant operating rates due to China's environmental regulations, was expec...>>>
US line pipe producers weigh in on proposed Buy America provision Apr 12,2017
Any claim that US domestic line pipe producers cannot meet the demand of pipeline operators under a proposed buy America requirement is simply not credible, according to the American Line Pipe Producers Association. In comments submitted to the Department of Commerce last week, the group, which represents a significant portion of US line pipe ca...>>>
S&P Global Ratings raises copper, aluminum price forecasts Apr 12,2017
S&P Global Ratings has raised its 2017-2018 forecasts for copper and aluminum due to production curtailments, steady industrial demand and continued Chinese growth seen so far this year. S&P Ratings analysts now expect aluminum to average $1,800/mt for the rest of 2017 and $1,800 in 2018 compared with $1,650 and $1,650, respectively. Copper i...>>>
Japanese scrap prices fall in monthly auction Apr 12,2017
The highest bid in Tuesday's monthly auction for Japanese H2 grade ferrous scrap for export from Tokyo Bay by end-May, fell by Yen 3,788/mt ($34/mt) from last month's winning bid to Yen 27,380/mt ($247/mt) free alongside ship, the organizer said. The auction attracted 17 bids for a total of 118,200 mt of scrap with the average being Yen 26,426/m...>>>
Brazilian hydrous ethanol price falls for 10th consecutive week: ANP Apr 12,2017
Hydrous ethanol prices at the pump in southeastern Brazil declined for 10th consecutive week in the most recent reporting period, the National Petroleum Agency said Tuesday. Hydrous prices over the April 2-8 period on average represented 70.8% of the gasoline price, compared with 71.2% the week before. Hydrous prices averaged Real 2.55/liter ...>>>
Norfolk Southern committed to invest in coal 'when the volumes come on': CMO Apr 12,2017
Coal will remain an integral part of Norfolk Southern ahead as the railroad adjusts to a commodity that's future is "more dynamic and more uncertain," Chief Marketing Officer Alan Shaw said Tuesday. In a keynote address at the National Coal Transportation Association's Spring Conference, Shaw said that while NS has made cuts to its Central Appal...>>>
100 Spot Commodities Price Chart - 10/04/2017 Apr 12,2017
It was assessed by SunSirs that in the tracked 100 spot commodities,32 commodities increased in prices, 32 fell and 35 remained unchanged on 10/04/2017.The largest rises were Benzene (3.39%),Gasoline (3.06%),Aniline (2.24%),while the largest falls were...>>>
China's 2017 thermal imports to surge by 30 million mt over 2016: Noble Apr 13,2017
China's thermal total coal import in 2017 is expected to surge by about 30 million mt over that in 2016, on the back increasing power generation, according to Noble Group. "The fundamentals in the coal market changed last year," Rodrigo Echeverri, head of Noble Group's energy coal analysis, said at the Coaltrans Conference in Shanghai on Monday...>>>
Ineos restarts Chocolate Bayou, Texas steam cracker: sources Apr 13,2017
Petrochemicals producer Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA restarted the No 2 steam cracker at its Chocolate Bayou olefins plant in Alvin, Texas, last weekend after unscheduled maintenance, sources said Wednesday. The unplanned outage at the 900,000 mt/year unit, which resulted from a turbine issue, started on March 17, sources said. A company spok...>>>