Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 22 May.

Political uncertainty weakens Turkish PP, PE demand ahead of Ramadan
Recent political events in Turkey have had a negative impact on already weak Turkish polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) demand during a time when buyers should be stocking up for Ramadan, sources said this week.

Monsanto good fit for Bayer but financial hurdles ahead – analysts
Bayer’s potential acquisition of US fertilizers major Monsanto would be ideal for the German chemical major to expand in the agrochemicals industry, but the size of the deal will present it with financial difficulties which could derail the bid, analysts said on Thursday.

Finance, logistics and quality concerns hinder Iran-EU trade
Almost six months on from the widely-heralded lifting of European sanctions on Iran, a snapshot of views canvassed from sources in a variety of petrochemical markets suggests that any direct impact from incoming Iranian origin volumes has been limited, at least so far.

Germany grants new incentives for electric cars
Germany’s government on Wednesday approved a new €1bn incentive programme to promote the purchase of electric and hybrid cars. 

Brenntag seeks global boost through M&A
Brenntag, the world’s largest chemical distributor, has a very active track record in mergers & acquisitions (M&A). The company’s main aim is to use M&A to build up scale and efficiency and boost its geographic coverage with a full line product portfolio of specialty and commodity chemicals.

Europe spot styrene holds steady despite rumoured outage
Despite news of a production outage, there has so far been no significant upward impact on European styrene spot numbers, sources said on Tuesday.

Europe PP margins fall on higher feedstock
Europe integrated margins for domestic naphtha-based polypropylene (PP) fell almost 5% in the week ending 13 May as feedstock costs rose by about the same percentage while co-products and spot prices inched up, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

Europe styrene market expected to soften into June
European styrene market players are expecting some downward movement in the second half of May and into June, sources said on Monday, as regional supply conditions improve and global numbers move lower.

Europe PP activity slows down as buyers see market top
Activity in the European polypropylene (PP) market has slowed down in May, as many buyers see prices as the top of the current cycle, and are able to work from stock, sources said on Monday.

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