Asia top stories: weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 23 September 2016.

India PE makers invoke price protection for LLDPE, HDPE
Polyethylene (PE) producers in India have invoked a price protection for high density PE (HDPE) and linear low density PE (LLDPE) grades amid ample availability in the local market, market sources said on Friday.

Asia acrylates may track feedstocks propylene, n-butanol gains
Asia’s acrylic acid and acrylate ester prices may extend gains on the back of rising costs of feedstocks propylene and n-butanol, market sources said on Thursday.

Asia methanol may gain further; plant outages tighten supply
Import prices of methanol in the Asian market are expected to see further price upside in the near term as recent plant outages may lead to a tightening of regional supply, market participants said on Thursday.

China’s local amines prices to slide on EO retreat likelihood
China’s domestic ethanolamines prices are set to decline further amid prospects of feedstock ethylene oxide (EO) price retreat, burgeoning inventory and receding demand, prompting reduction in production locally, market participants said on Thursday.

Asia PX may extend falls on long supply, bearish sentiment
Paraxylene (PX) prices in Asia are being dampened by strong availability of spot cargoes from India, Singapore, the Middle East and the US, traders said on Tuesday.

Asia capro players cautious as global makers cut capacity
Caprolactam market players in Asia are cautiously optimistic as major European producers are shutting down plants to reduce global overcapacity, possibly limiting export volumes available to this region, industry sources said on Monday.

Asia BPA poised to hold stable amid cautious buying
Asia’s spot prices of bisphenol A (BPA) are expected to see limited fluctuations amid generally thin trade coupled with a lack of earnest buying appetite, market sources said.

PCG to start up Malaysia RAPID glycols, polymers units in 2019
PETRONAS Chemicals Group (PCG) is on track to start up its new glycols and polymers plants, which form part of Malaysia’s Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Johor, in 2019, a company executive told ICIS on Friday.

Celanese starts commercial ops at Singapore VAE unit
Celanese has started commercial production at its new vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) emulsions unit at the firm’s acetyls complex on Jurong Island in Singapore, senior company executives said on Wednesday.