Americas top stories – weekly summary

29 March 2010 15:00  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Here are some of the top stories from ICIS news Americas for the week ended 26 March 2010.

(Please click on the link to read the full text.)

US propylene sellers seek 16-18% April hikes as uptrend continues
Two US propylene producers nominated an increase of 11 cents/lb ($243/tonne, €182/tonne) for April contracts and a third nominated a 12-cent/lb hike, market sources said on Friday, setting the stage for a possible sharp rise in the monthly contracts.

US BD contracts expected to rise 8 cents/lb for April
US butadiene (BD) contracts for April were expected to rise by 8 cents/lb ($176/tonne or €132/tonne) amid tight supply and heavy demand, sources said on Friday.

US natural gas inventories build, futures at six-month low
US natural gas inventory levels built for the first time in 2010, according to US government data released on Thursday, pushing already-depressed futures prices below $4/MMBtu for the first time in nearly six months.

US Cargill threatens to drop Sinar Mas as palm oil supplier
US agribusiness major Cargill has threatened to remove Sinar Mas from its list of palm oil suppliers if the Indonesian producer fails to address allegations about illegal land use, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

Biofuels group tells Brazil to keep ethanol out of EU – VIDEO
Europe needs to develop its own production of biofuels and not rely on imports of ethanol from Brazil to meet its renewable fuels targets, the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBio) said on Wednesday.

New capacity could depress US ethylene-based markets
The potential for new Middle East and Asian ethylene crackers to flood the market and weaken downstream ethylene glycol (EG) prices in the second quarter is already affecting trader activity, a trader said on Wednesday.

FO Licht sees ‘light at end of tunnel’ for biofuels – VIDEO
FO Licht said on Tuesday the global outlook for biofuels has improved since last year, but the commodity information service warned of lingering challenges for the sector, including continued tight credit and volatile currency markets.

US BD producers seek 10-15 cents/lb increase for April
Two US butadiene (BD) producers nominated contract hikes of 10-15 cents/lb ($220-330/tonne, €165-248/tonne) for April, market sources said on Tuesday.

Chem group says US greenhouse regs would hurt economic recovery
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must delay its finalisation of greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations or risk jeopardising the nation’s economic recovery, the chief executive of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Monday.

BP to expedite restart of No 1 PX unit at Texas City
US paraxylene (PX) producer BP reported in a state filing on Monday that it would be expediting the restart process on the company's No 1 PX unit at Texas City, Texas.

($1 = €0.75)

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