Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 3 August.

European cracker margins fall on feedstock gains
European cracker margins have fallen week on week on the back of increases in naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) costs, according to ICIS margin analysis.

UK’s Sirius Minerals reveals ADM as mystery US fertilizer offtake partner
UK start-up Sirius Minerals has revealed US agricultural processor, distributor, and trader Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) as an offtake partner, having promised to supply up to 1.5m tonnes of its polyhalite-based fertilizer over seven years.

Europe MEG market in stalemate as ethylene August contract still unsettled
The European monoethylene glycol (MEG) monthly contract remains unconfirmed in the final days of July as stalemate ensues in the market once again.

Arkema unaffected by trade war tensions, upgrades 2018 outlook
Arkema is paying close attention to trade tensions between the US, China and the EU, but has experienced no impact so far from the spectre of trade wars between the world’s major economies, the CEO of the France-based specialty chemicals firm said.

Iran dominates Indian urea tender but prices offered higher than expected
The lowest price offered under Indian state-run MMTC Limited’s 1 August purchase tender for an unspecified quantity of urea was, as expected, from Iran, according to market sources.

DowDupont Q2 net income up, higher contribution across ops
DowDupont’s second-quarter net income rose 34% year on year to $1.77bn on the back of stronger volumes and price gains across each of its three core businesses, the US-headquartered chemicals giant said.

Europe HDPE fortunes differ, domestic prices remain low in global terms
Some, but not all, European high density polyethylene (HDPE) sellers were hoping to lift prices in August due to a balanced-to-tight supply in some grades and the fact that values remain low compared to Asia.