Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 5 July.

Europe spot styrene spikes amid buying interest for July
Renewed buying interest and some shortness on prompt material helped drive European spot styrene prices higher this week, sources said on Friday.

Perstorp boosted by switch to specialized plasticizers
In 2012 the EU began a process on phasing out plasticizer dioctyl phthalate (DOP) amid fears about reproductive toxicity. This left a few European producers with a somewhat tough business decision to make – step out of the plasticizers market or come back later with an alternative. Perstorp opted for the latter.

ICIS Special Report: Tough times for Turkey post-election?
In this ICIS Special Report video we focus on the energy and petrochemical markets in Turkey and look at how the political and economic fallout from the country’s recent general election is impacting the electricity, gas and petrochemical markets there.

Producer drops July spot prices in Turkey PE, PP markets
A Middle East producer has lowered its July polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) prices to Turkey because of soft demand and market uncertainty around the ongoing situation with Greece and the eurozone, a source close to the producer said on Wednesday.

Europe caustic soda prices pushed down by weak demand
Weak demand ahead of European summer holidays and improving availability are putting downward pressure on European caustic soda spot prices, according to sources in the market.

UK CIA disappointed as council rejects north England shale plans
The UK’s Chemical Industries Association (CIA) late on Monday said it was disappointed with the decision of Lancashire County Council to reject plans by Cuadrilla to explore for shale gas at two separate sites in the north of England.

French firm Arkema confirms €10bn sales target by 2020
French specialty chemicals producer Arkema on Monday confirmed its target to generate €10bn sales by 2020 with an earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin of close to 17%.

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