Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 9 October.

IPEX up 8% in September as key petrochemical prices rise
ICIS petrochemical indexes rose again in September as prices captured in the indexes generally improved. The global index was up 8% from August.

Significant risk of EU missing plastic recycling targets
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has assessed a significant risk that the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030.

EPCA ’20: Europe benzene length keeps spreads to naphtha unprofitably low
European benzene prices suffered major blows during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, and despite gradual gains since early April, have yet to return to February levels.

Daewoo’s design for ammonia-fuelled ship wins approval from Lloyd’s Register
South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering on Tuesday revealed it had won Approval in Principle (AiP) from UK-based vessel classification agency Lloyd’s Register for an ammonia-powered “super-large container ship”.

EPCA ’20: Europe PET shutdowns, upstream chaos, debatable demand all make for an interesting Q4 ahead
To regular participants in the Europe polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market, it will come as no surprise that there have been a host of unexpected occurrences, which have sent PET off on a tangent going into the fourth quarter.

EPCA ’20: Chems sector to emerge leaner from the pandemic, project pipeline to narrow – Dow CEO
The chemicals sector is likely to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic leaner and more focused following the tough decisions required during the downturn, and the number of new projects moving forward is likely to fall, according to the CEO of Dow.