Russia’s Jan-May PVC output down 6% year on year

MOSCOW (MRC)–Russia’s overall production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dropped in the first five months of 2016 by 6% year on year, totalling 310,500 tonnes.

SayanskKhimplast and Kaustik (Volgograd) accounted for the negative increase in the output, according to MRC’s ScanPlast report.

Last month’s production of unmixed PVC in Russia decreased to 53,300 tonnes from 56,600 tonnes in April. The reduced May figure was caused by a scheduled shutdown for maintenance at Kaustik (Volgograd).

Overall PVC production totalled 310,500 tonnes in January-May 2016, compared to 332,000 tonnes a year earlier. RusVinyl increased its output by 42%, however, this factor was offset by SayanskKhimplast’s outage and Kaustik’s lower production.

The structure of PVC output by producers looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (SIBUR and SolVin’s joint venture) produced about 27,200 tonnes of PVC in May, 1,800 tonnes of which were emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC), versus 28,500 tonnes a month earlier.

The Nizhny Novgorod plant’s overall output of resin reached 133,300 tonnes in the first five months of the year, whereas the same figure was 88,600 tonnes a year earlier.

Bashkir Soda Company (BSC) produced 21,500 tonnes of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) last month, whereas this figure was slightly less than 20,500 tonnes a month earlier. Overall production of resin at the Bashkir plant was 105,900 tonnes in January-May 2016, up by 1% year on year.

Kaustik (Volgograd) shut down its production for maintenance in the second half of May, therefore the plant’s May output of SPVC was slightly over 4,600 tonnes, compared to 7,600 tonnes a month earlier.

The plant”s overall output of resin reached 36,000 tonnes in the first five months of the year, down by 10% year on year.

SayanskKhimplast was forced to shut down its PVC production in mid-February due to the outage at Angarsk Polymer Plant”s ethylene unit.

According to preliminary information, the shutdown will last until end-June with resumption of resin production scheduled for early July.

SayanskKhimplast’s SVPC production totalled 35,300 tonnes in January-May 2016, whereas this figure reached 99,000 tonnes over the same period of 2015.

MRC, a partner of ICIS, produces polymers news and pricing reports from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.