European Benzene
In Europe, Benzene prices have increased by more than 50% since the beginning of the year, and the mounting pressure of rising prices has been more than evident.
The Urethane Blog
No More Corner Office
The uniquely designed spaces offer open areas and meeting rooms for employees to work onsite without needing individual offices.
New Epoxy Line From PPG
PPG announces the launch of PPG STEELGUARD 951 coating, an innovative epoxy intumescent fire protection coating designed to meet the demands of modern architectural steel, including up to three hours of cellulosic fire protection, said the company.
Lithium and China
The crackdown in Yichun, Jiangxi province, also known as the country’s “Lithium capital” follows a local lithium frenzy over the past year as miners raced to feed rampant demand for the battery material — and to benefit from record global prices. Now, they’re grappling with a close-up inspection by environment officials sent from Beijing.
Home Sales
After a surprise jump in December (after 6 straight declining months), analysts expected a modest 1.0% MoM jump in pending home sales in January but were blown away by an 8.1% MoM explosion in sales (though Dec was revised down from +2.5% to +1.1%)….
Urethane Highlights from BASF Investor’s Call
Mubasher Chaudhry from Citi. With regard to the various shutdowns announced, is there any option to bring any of these plants back online? Should the demand picture improve in the medium term?
Martin Brudermuller
No. I think this is more or less excluded because, first of all, when you start to shut down these plants and you really want to reduce the fixed cost. You have also to solve the teams and have really to get the fixed cost off and also not stay with remnant costs or holding a team for such a moment, then you don’t gain anything.
Sinomax Profit Warning
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take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement,
Covestro Building TPU Site
Covestro will build its largest Thermoplastic Polyurethanes (TPU) site in Zhuhai, China. With an overall investment in the low three-digit million Euro range it will also be the company’s largest investment in its TPU business.
BASF To Close European TDI Plant
Closure of the TDI plant and the precursor plants for DNT and TDA: Demand for TDI has developed only very weakly especially in Europe, Middle East and Africa and has been significantly below expectations. The TDI complex in Ludwigshafen has been underutilized and has not met expectations in terms of economic performance. This situation has further worsened with sharply increased energy and utility costs. BASF’s European customers will continue to be reliably supplied with TDI from BASF’s global production network with plants in Geismar, Louisiana; Yeosu, South Korea; and Shanghai, China.
Hanwha Update
Hanwha Solutions predicted that demand for products such as low-density polyethylene, PVC and toluene diisocyanate could recover, helped by demand in China following its shift to live with Covid and measures to stimulate its economy.
