Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 22 November.

Eastern EU nations call for duties on imports of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus
Countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have submitted a letter to the European Commission calling for customs duty to be imposed on imports of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus, the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology has confirmed.

Europe apathetic to PO asset reviews as oversupply plagues market
Two propylene oxide (PO) plants have been added to the pile of European assets under review as the market grapples with chronic oversupply, low utilisation and persistent low demand.

Chems firms struggle to gain traction in Q3
The chemicals sectors’ third-quarter earnings period has underlined how little momentum has built up in the last 12 months, and how tepid expectations are for the closing months of the year.

Tightening Russia oil supply may support oil benchmarks as Russia-Ukraine conflict marks 1,000th day
Global oil benchmarks could find support from tighter Russian oil supply in coming weeks amid calls for stricter EU sanctions and escalating geopolitical tensions.

Europe, US chemicals have most to lose from a new trade war
Donald Trump’s resounding victory in the US presidential election gives him a powerful mandate for a policy agenda which includes ramping up trade tariffs across the board as he pursues his re-shoring agenda.