By Malini Hariharan India trails far behind China in the polyester business but there is growing interest in new investments that also extends upstream to purified terephthalic acid (PTA). The latest entrant to the projects listing is Thai major Indorama Ventures which has signed an MoU with Indorama Synthetics (India) for an integrated PTA, polyester […]
Asian Chemical Connections
IOC Defers PX/PTA, Proceeds With Acetic Acid, Butene-1
By Malini Hariharan The blog continues with a review of Indian projects. State-owned refinery major Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has deferred its paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) projects at Vadodara in Gujarat state, to post 2015. “The project is on hold because of commercial issues; we are looking at the total PX/PTA picture […]
PX – PTA market struggle intensifies
By Malini Hariharan Asian paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) markets have started 2012 on a contentious note that is likely to be repeated for the rest of the year. The January Asian Contract Price (ACP) for PX is in disarray with major producers and buyers unable to agree on a number. Only ExxonMobil […]
Polyester still booming
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been listening to some interesting presentations on the polyester chain at the Indian Petrochem – 2011 conference in Mumbai. The global economic slowdown does not appear to have dampened prospects for polyester demand. “Demand for polyester grew by 5.6m tonnes last year which was atypical; we all thought that […]
Latin America focused on new investments
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been scanning ICIS news reports from the 31th Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA) conference in Buenos Aires to gauge the mood at the event. Participants appear to be sanguine despite the global economic turmoil with talk focused on upcoming investments. Braskem is the forefront. Its joint-venture project with Idesa, […]
Does the industry need more PTA?
By Malini Hariharan The impending oversupply in purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and likely problems in securing feedstock paraxylene (PX) does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm for new investments, Around 10m tonnes of PTA capacity is expected to come on stream from the third quarter of 2011 to late 2012, while another 12.9m tonnes of […]
Trouble for PX, PTA and MEG
By Malini Hariharan All is not well in the Asian polyester chain. Demand has slowed down exerting a steady downward pressure on prices. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) spot prices have dropped by $100/tonne in the last week to $1,290-1,300/tonne CFR China Main Port and the outlook for the coming months is bearish, reports ICIS news. […]
India projects see more delays
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been updating the status of Indian petrochemical projects and has found that many are running behind schedule. Reliance Industries’ mega cracker at Jamnagar has yet to get off the starting block. The company is holding on to an end-2014 start schedule for the 1.4m-1.6m tonnes/year cracker which will be […]
Reliance’s polyester play
By Malini Hariharan With Indian polyester demand growing steadily at 10%/year Reliance Industries has renewed its focus on expansions along the chain. Projects that were put on hold after the 2008 economic crisis have been revived and deadlines set. The company’s plans include two new worldscale purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants and investments in paraxylene […]
Capitalising on the cotton crisis
By Malini Hariharan Cotton prices have hit a 140-year high on the ICE futures in the US creating room for further price hikes across the polyester chain. Prices of paraxylene (PX), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), monoethylene glycol (MEG) and polyester fibre and yarn have escalated sharply in the last few months as a supply […]
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