Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 31 July.

Europe capro, nylon demand slowly picks up but uncertainty prevails
Europe caprolactam (capro), nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 markets are expected to continue trading reduced volumes for quite some time, as downstream demand recovery is likely to be prolonged and slow.

DuPont hit hard in second quarter by automotive market decline
A significant non-cash impairment charge related to near-term weakness in the automotive industry hit DuPont’s earnings in the second quarter, the company said on Thursday.

Solvay manages to weather severe headwinds in downstream markets
Despite its position as a specialty chemical producer, Solvay is not far-enough removed from the global economic storm to come away unscathed.

INSIGHT: BASF remains cautious in face of limited order visibility
BASF’s comments on Wednesday on visibility and the third quarter show how cautious the German chemicals major is in the face of the uncertain recovery this July and August from coronavirus lockdowns.

European naphtha prices held back by static crude, increased inflows
Outright values in the European open-specification naphtha spot market have been held back by increased inflows from the US which have compounded overwhelming inventory levels, slowing demand from petrochemical units and a stagnating upstream crude futures market.

WTO rules EU anti-dumping duties on Russian AN unlawful
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has found that anti-dumping duties (ADD) applied on Russian ammonium nitrate (AN) by the EU were unlawful.