Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 4 May.

Europe butac prices rise on feedstock acetic acid costs
Butyl acetate (butac) spot prices in Europe rose in the week to 27 April on rising feedstock acetic acid costs, according to sources.

EU Commission approves sale of Bayer’s crop-science business to BASF
The European Commission approved the acquisition of parts of Bayer’s crop-science business by fellow German chemical major BASF.

BP’s petchems Q1 profit falls 35% on higher turnaround activity
BP’s petrochemicals business posted a 35% fall in underlying replacement cost (RC) profit before interest and tax in the first quarter as a high level of turnaround activity and the sale of its stake in the SECCO joint venture weighed heavily, the UK-headquartered energy major said.

EU needs joint trade approach to be ‘at eye level’ with US, China – VCI
he US has postponed for 30 days a decision on trade tariffs on the EU and other allies, but Germany’s chemical trade group VCI said the 28-country bloc should adopt a unified and speedy position on trade to face China and the US “at eye level”.

Europe IPA sellers push for May increases on rising feedstocks, squeezed margins
European isopropanol (IPA) sellers are separately targeting price increases for May on the back of squeezed margins against feedstocks.

Europe PP players treading softly into May, price decreases unlikely
European polypropylene (PP) buyers and sellers are approaching the market cautiously in May, and the success of sellers’ targets for higher prices depends on the level of demand for the month.

BASF to merge paper, water chems operations with US’ Solenis
BASF is to merge its water and paper treatment chemicals operations with Solenis, the former water technologies business of US-based Ashland, to create a business with annual revenues of around €2.4bn, the Germany-headquartered chemicals major said.

BASF Q1 net profit dips on taxes, forex, despite chemicals rally
BASF’s first-quarter net income fell 2% year on year to €1.68bn, as a higher overall tax rate and foreign exchange impacts offset strong gains for the Germany-headquartered major’s chemicals and oil and gas divisions, it said.

Turkey PE bottoms out as poor economic performance dampens sentiment
Turkish polyethylene (PE) prices are stable to down as demand falters following the continuing poor performance of the Turkish lira, according to sources.