Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 24 August.

Dow lifts global VAM force majeure and US sales control
Dow Chemical ended its force majeure on vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) on Monday, lifting the declaration for Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and Asia Pacific, as well as the sales control on VAM in North America, the company said in a statement.

Total fails to obtain US waiver on Iran sanctions, exits the country
Total is withdrawing from its investments in Iran after failing to obtain a business waiver from the US following Washington’s re-imposition of sanctions, the French energy and petrochemicals major confirmed to ICIS on Tuesday.

LyondellBasell completes $2.25bn acquisition of A Schulman
LyondellBasell has completed the $2.25bn acquisition of high-performance plastic compounds, composites and powders supplier A Schulman, the Netherlands-domiciled chemical major announced on Tuesday.

TiO2 won’t see repeat of 2012 collapse – Chemours CEO
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) prices will not see anything like the run-up and collapse in 2011-2012 as market dynamics have shifted and point to more stability ahead, the CEO of US-based producer Chemours said on Tuesday.

China latest tariffs on chemicals, polymers set to distort regional trade
It is not necessarily a calm before the storm but traders and others have to deal with the world as it is. The bottom line impact can be gauged later.

INSIGHT: US chemical exports to take bigger hit in US-China 2nd round of tariffs
The 2nd round of US and China tariffs, each comprising 25% on $16bn in imports and going into effect on 23 August, will hit US commodity chemical exports to China far harder, as the impact on comparable China exports to the US should be negligible.

US PET prices rise amid tight supply, volatile feedstocks
US polyethylene terephthalate (PET) prices rose by 2 cents/lb ($44/tonne) in August against a backdrop of raw material volatility and tight resin supply.