The Urethane Blog
March 31, 2023
United States Housing Starts
February 2023 Data – 1959-2022 Historical
Housing starts in the US surged 9.8% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.45 million in February of 2023, the highest in five months, and way above market forecasts of 1.31 million, in a sign that some confidence may have returned to the housing market, although mortgage rates and inflation remain elevated. Single-family housing starts were up 1.1% to 830 thousand and starts for units in buildings with five units or more surged 24.1% to 608 thousand, the highest since April last year. Starts soared in the Midwest (70.3% to 201 thousand), the West (16.8% to 347 thousand), and the South (2.2% to 796 thousand) but fell in the Northeast (-16.5% to 106 thousand). Compared to February 2022 however, housing starts were 18.4% lower. In January, housing starts were revised higher to 1.321 million from an early estimate of 1.309 million, but remaining the lowest since June of 2020. source: U.S. Census Bureau
March 28, 2023
New Home Sales Unexpectedly ‘Rose’ In February, Median Price Rebounds
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Mar 23, 2023 – 10:09 AM
After surging far more than expected in December and January (and beaten expectations in each of the last six months), new home sales were expected to slide in February (despite the unexpected jump in existing home sales as mortgage rates took a pause from their blast off higher). However, like existing home sales, new home sales rose 1.1% MoM (-3.1% exp). This is the seventh beat in a row, but only because January’s +7.2% MoM spike was revised dramatically lower to a mere +1.8% MoM… if that January level had held this would have been a 4.5% MoM drop…
Source: Bloomberg
Year-over-year, new home sales remain down 19%, but on a SAAR basis are back near their highest since last April…
Source: Bloomberg
Sales rose in the West and South, the two largest regions by purchases. The number of homes sold in the Northeast plunged to the lowest since June.
The median home price rose from $426.5K (lowest since Sept Dec 21) to $438.2K…
Supply continues to contract (some might say ‘normalize’). There were 436,000 new homes for sale as of the end of last month, the lowest since April. That represents 8.2 months of supply at the current sales rate. …
Source: Bloomberg
Interestingly, the number of homes sold, but not yet started, continues to rise, surging to 149K, from 108K, the highest since March 2022…
Source: Bloomberg
Of course, the problem is, mortgage rates have resurged back above 7.00% since this data…
Source: Bloomberg
Resurgent home sales (and prices) is not what Powell wants to see – don’t expect mortgage rates to save any homebuyers anytime soon (especially as banks tighten lending standards amid a liquidity/solvency crisis).
March 28, 2023
Mitsui Chemicals : to Optimize TDI Production Capacity
03/28/2023 | 12:48am EDT
2023.03.28
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu) today announced plans to optimize the production capacity of its Omuta Works’ toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant in July 2025. TDI is used as a raw material in the production of polyurethane.
1. Objectives and Background
Mitsui Chemicals currently manufactures and sells TDI (Production capacity 120,000 tons per annual) for use as a basic material in the isocyanate chain at the Omuta Works. However, given supply and demand trends in Japan and overseas, Mitsui Chemicals has decided that a reduced output of around 50,000 tons per year will be optimal going forward.
While maintaining a stable supply setup to meet domestic demand for TDI, the Omuta Works will contribute to expansion in growth domains as part of Mitsui Chemicals’ business portfolio transformation by bolstering competitiveness as the company’s principal center for the manufacture of high-performance products, including ophthalmic lens materials and agrochemical products. 【Overview of the TDI plant】
| Manufacturing facility | Mitsui Chemicals Omuta Works (https://jp.mitsuichemicals.com/en/corporate/ds/works.htm) |
| Production capacity | 120,000 tons/year (currently) → around 50,000 tons/year (following optimization) |
| Timing | Planned for July 2025 |
The TDI plant in Omuta Works 2. Future of the Polyurethane Business
As part of its VISION 2030 Long-Term Business Plan, Mitsui Chemicals positioned polyurethane as one of several businesses in the Basic & Green Materials Business Sector that would be subject to restructuring.
In addition to the forthcoming optimization of TDI production capacity, the restructure will encompass the development of high value-added products, including high-performance methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and high-performance polyols such as polypropylene glycol. Pursuing these efforts will allow Mitsui Chemicals to reduce earnings volatility, improve capital investment efficiency and lay the business foundations for generating stable earnings.
Mitsui Chemicals also intends to bring about a circular economy transformation by setting up a chemical recycling scheme for polyurethane foam and considering the use of ISCC PLUS-certified bio-based toluene produced at the Osaka Works to manufacture greener TDI.
March 27, 2023
Newest low-water ship now in operation
23.03.2023
HKG Shipping (Cologne) and materials manufacturer Covestro commissioned a new low-water vessel earlier this month. “Courage” is to supply Covestro’s customers with finished products from its sites in North Rhine-Westphalia with immediate effect.
The identically constructed sister ship “Curiosity” will be delivered in a few weeks’ time. At the beginning of May 2023, HGK Shipping and Covestro plan to celebrate the addition to the fleet with a double christening ceremony.
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