Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 10 September.

Europe Q4 phenol adder talks set to focus on supply, demand and acetone price
The fourth quarter is rapidly approaching, which means the European phenol market  is again turning its attention towards adder talks.

EU must set mandatory recycled content in packaging by 2030 – producers
The EU must set a mandatory target for recycled content in plastic packaging of 30% by 2030 to prop up circularity evenly among the 27 member states, plastics producers’ trade group PlasticsEurope said on Thursday.

UK supply woes on driver shortages could hit public health, environment – CBA
The UK’s shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers has been greatly aggravated since June, with nearly all the chemicals distributors surveyed by trade group CBA reporting shortages of drivers in August.

August IPEX up 2% month on month on rising US Gulf and Europe prices
The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) rose by 1.95% month on month in August, tracking price increases seen in most major petrochemicals and plastics markets in the US Gulf and Europe. Prices in northeast Asia were largely stable, up by only 0.3% .

Spain moves to tax plastic packaging, push for substitution ‘discriminatory’ – EsPlasticos
Spain’s plans to tax plastics packaging is coming at the wrong time because the industry is only just recovering from the economic hit caused by the coronavirus pandemic, an executive at trade group EsPlasticos told ICIS.

INSIGHT: Europe BDO market to be defined by self-sufficiency, tightness in 2022
The European butanediol (BDO) market has changed radically during 2021, with domestic supply of material becoming much more important due to disrupted global tradeflows.