Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 29 September.

EPCA ’23: Recovery based on hope, not facts, for Europe’s phenol and acetone, but the worst should be over
When will the upturn come? That was the dominating question at this year’s EPCA meeting, with forecasts for phenol and acetone varying from Q2 next year to the start of 2025.

EU economic confidence drops in September on gloomy consumer outlook despite industry gains
Wilting consumer confidence weighed on economic sentiment in Europe in September, according to the latest data from the EU Commission on Thursday.

EPCA ’23: Europe petchem markets in trough, no upturn expected for 2024
The European petrochemical markets are in a trough, with no demand upturn expected for 2024.

EPCA ’23: Chems industry faces higher carbon prices, heavier CO2 targets – Cefic
The EU chemicals industry is likely to be hit by substantially higher carbon prices and a more ambitious wave of CO2-reduction reduction targets from the European Commission in the years ahead, the director general of industry body Cefic said on Tuesday.

EPCA ’23: Europe PX/OX markets to see further pressure in Q4
Europe’s paraxylene (PX) and orthoxylene (OX) markets look set for a gloomy run until the end of the year, and there is no sign of a demand recovery until Q2 2024 as the feedstock cost trend is unclear after several weeks of bullish upstream sentiment driven by firmer crude costs.