PVC production in Russia up 26% in the first seven months of 2017

MOSCOW (MRC)–Russia’s overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) grew in the first seven months of 2017 by 26% year on year, totalling 530,800 tonnes. All plants, except for Bashkir Soda Company, increased their output of resin, according to MRC’s ScanPlast report.

In July alone, production of PVC dropped to 63,100 tonnes, down from 81,200 tonnes a month earlier, as SayanskKhimplast and Bashkir Soda Company’s outputs fell because of scheduled shutdowns for maintenance.

Overall PVC production reached 530,800 tonnes in January-July 2017, compared to 421,100 tonnes a year earlier. The disparity in production growth year on year was caused by the outage at SayanskKhimPlast from February to July last year.

RusVinyl, the joint venture of SIBUR and SolVin, produced 24,700 tonnes of PVC in July, compared to 25,400 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, RusVinyl’s overall production of resin reached 180,500 tonnes in the first seven months of 2017 versus 180,100 tonnes a year earlier.

SayanskKhimPlast shut down its production capacities for a 30-day turnaround on 24 July. Thus, the plant’s overall output reached 19,700 tonnes for the incomplete July, compared to 26,700 tonnes a month earlier. SayanskKhimPlast managed to produce 156,000 tonnes of resin over the stated period versus 42,800 tonnes a year earlier due to the aforementioned outage from February to July 2016.

Bashkir Soda Company also shut down its production capacities for a two-week maintenance on 15 July, meaning the plant’s PVC output fell to 10,800 tonnes from 21,600 tonnes a year previously. The Bashkir plant’s PVC production totalled 140,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2017, compared to 148,700 tonnes a year earlier.

Kaustik (Volgograd) slightly increased its production last month, the plant’s suspension PVC output slightly exceeded 7,900 tonnes versus 7,300 tonnes in June, while the plant’s overall production of resin reached 53,600 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 49,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC, a partner of ICIS, produces polymers news and pricing reports from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.