Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Americas for the week ended 22 October 2016.

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Venezuela may export PVC due to weak domestic demand
Government-owned Pequiven, Venezuela’s sole polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, is considering exporting resin because domestic demand is so weak and inventories continue rising. Local sources said on Friday that the domestic PVC producer has been making extra efforts to offer resin directly to consumers amid fragile demand, while construction activity is practically halted because of the country’s ailing economy.

EU parliament president moves to save trade deal with Canada
The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, on Saturday met Canada’s international trade minister and the leader of Belgium’s Wallonia region in a last bid to save the EU-Canada trade deal. His move came after Canadian trade minister Chrystia Freeland had said on Friday that talks to address Wallonia’s concerns about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU had failed.

US Oct propylene contract negotiations ongoing
US propylene contracts for October have yet to settle as of Friday, as market participants remain apart on how much prices will decrease for the month. Initially, a producer nomination had emerged at an increase of 1 cent/lb, but price discussions last week had centred around a rollover to a slight decrease.

US plasticizers prices rise on upstream pressure
Most US October plasticizers were assessed higher at nominated levels, but the increases appeared to be keeping some downstream buyers out of the market for now. Increases of 4 cents/lb ($88/tonne) were separately proposed by major producers for products including dioctyl adipate (DOA), dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP), trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM), di-2-propylheptyl phthalate (DPHP) and dioctyl phthalate (DOP).

INSIGHT: Celanese boosts engineered materials with SoFTer deal
Celanese’s pending acquisition of the Italian compounder SoFTer Group will further increase the company’s exposure in engineered materials. The deal will not change Celanese’s place as one of the largest producers of acetyls in the world. This will remain, and Celanese will continue making acetate flake, acetate film and acetate tow under its Consumer Specialties unit – as well as ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) under Industrial Specialties and acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) and acetate esters under Acetyl Intermediates.

Access to credit hampers Latin America polymers market
Polymer buyers from various Latin America countries point to a key problem hampering the market: limited access to credit and loans. “Payments get delayed a lot,” a Mexican distributor said, adding that customer payments are usually made 45-60 days after an order is placed. By the time the transaction is complete, the exchange rate could take a drastic turn.

US ethanol reaches record-high blend rate
Record amounts of ethanol are being blended into gasoline stocks in the US, surpassing the established blend wall of 10%. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gasoline supplied to the US market during the week ended 14 October contained an average of 10.4% ethanol – the highest weekly blend rate on record.

US Gulf Coast chems report mixed demand – Fed
Chemical producers on the US Gulf Coast reported mixed demand, in line with the effects of a stronger US dollar and moderating global demand, the Federal Reserve said. The Fed made the observations in its Beige Book report – a summary of economic activity during the past six weeks among the 12 Federal Reserve districts.

US styrene market little changed after Westlake fire
US spot styrene prices have changed little one week after a flurry of activity following news of the 13 October fire at Westlake Chemical’s 259,000 tonne/year plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, market sources said on Thursday. A source said that Westlake’s facility could lose about 10,000 tonnes of styrene production, the equivalent of two weeks’ worth.

US ethylene margins fall again on lower spot, higher feed
US spot margins for ethane-based ethylene continued their recent declines due to lower spot prices and higher feedstock costs, falling by another 5.7% in the week ended 14 October. Ethylene spot prices actually began the week on an uptrend before plunging on bearish sentiment after a derivative plant fire.