Artenius FM on Europe PET to continue until at least 4 April

31 March 2011 13:12  [Source: ICIS news]

VALENCIA, Spain (ICIS)--Artenius’s declaration of force majeure (FM) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) supplies in Europe will remain in place until at least 4 April, a company source said on Thursday.

“We had planned for the force majeure to continue through the whole month of March, and on [28 March] we will decide whether or not to extend it further,” the source said, speaking in Spanish.

The FM continued to be at 80% at Artenius’s units in Prat de Llobregat, Spain; Volos, Greece; and Adana, Turkey. The San Giorgio plant in Italy was at 75%.

The PET market was recovering from several declarations of FM on PTA but remained tight, buyers and sellers agreed.

“Customers have not been able to stock up enough for the [peak] summer season,” a second producer said. It added that had “zero stocks”.

The market was looking forward to some relief from the restart of Cepsa Quimica’s recently acquired San Roque PET plant in Spain. Deliveries from the 175,000 tonne/year plant are planned for 1 April. 

Poland’s PKN Orlen was also in the process of starting up its new 600,000 tonne/year PTA plant in Wloclawek.

Artenius is owned by La Seda de Barcelona. It has 80,000 tonnes/year of PET capacity in Volos; 200,000 tonnes/year in San Giorgio di Nogaro; 140,000 tonnes/year in Adana; and 170,000 tonnes/year in El Prat de Llobregat. 

($1 = €0.71)

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By: Caroline Murray
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