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Speciality Chemicals11-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Some ports in Florida have
resumed operations while millions in the US
state remain without power after Hurricane
Milton made landfall earlier in the week, south
of the fertilizer hub of Tampa.
A few ports in Florida have maintained Port
Condition Zulu, under which they are closed to
inbound and outbound vessels.
Others have reopened and have set Port
Condition IV, which is
a hurricane seasonal alert to which ports
return after a storm.
The following table summarizes the port
conditions in Florida.
Port
Status
Condition
Port of Pensacola
Open
Normal
Port Panama City
Open
Draft restrictions
Port St Joe
Open
Normal
Port Tampa Bay
Closed
Zulu
SeaPort Manatee
Closed
Zulu
PortMiami
Open
IV
Port Everglades
Open
IV
Port of Palm Beach
Open
IV
Fort Pierce
Open with Restrictions
IV with restrictions
Port Canaveral
Open
IV
Jaxport
Open
IV
Port of Fernandina
Closed
Zulu
Source: US Coast Guard
OUTAGESFlorida has more
than 2.2 million reported outages, according to
the website poweroutage.us. That is down by
more than 1 million versus
the immediate aftermath of the hurricane.
Prolonged outages can disrupt economic activity
and slow down demand for plastics and
chemicals.
CSX WARNS OF RAIL
DELAYSThe railroad company CSX
warned of delays while it works to clear
tracks, install generators and conduct repairs.
All routes north of Jacksonville, Florida are
open with no anticipated issues, it said. The
area south, from Callahan to the north end of
Anthony, is also clear.
Work continues in central Florida, and CSX is
addressing washouts on the Carter and Vitis
subdivisions.
The CFR line should be open later Friday night,
providing a potential route into Winter Haven.
CSX is making contingency plans for possible
issues with a gas pipe washout near the Miami
area.
IMPACT ON FERTILIZERS, PHOSPHATES,
CHEMSFor chemicals, there is
some epoxy resin, phenolic resin and
unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) production in
Lakeland and Kathleen, Florida.
Milton will make landfall far from Pensacola,
Florida, which has plants that make nylon and
thermoset resins.
Tampa is an
important hub for the US fertilizer
industry, hosting corporate offices,
trading, product storage, shipping and other
logistical operations.
Fertilizer producer Mosaic has its headquarters
in Tampa. The company has not issued any
statements regarding its corporate operations.
A source at the fertilizer company Yara said it
was shutting down its Tampa offices to comply
with the evacuation orders.
Near Tampa is Florida’s
phosphate mining operations in Bone
Valley, which covers parts of Hardee,
Hillsborough, Manatee and Polk counties.
In all, Florida has 27 phosphate mines, of
which nine are active, according
to the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection.
Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien has yet to
restart its White Springs phosphate operations
following Helene, an earlier hurricane that
made landfall farther north in Florida’s Big
Bend region.
On 30 September, Mosaic said its Riverview
operations were off line following water
intrusion from a storm surge caused by
Hurricane Helene.
Thumbnail Photo: Hurricane Milton. (By
Cira/Noaa/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press
Wire/Shutterstock)
Ethylene11-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–The risks for Germany’s chemical
industry keep rising, economists said during a
webinar hosted by chemical producers’ trade
group VCI, and noted:
Weak demand, domestically and abroad
Investments stall
Geopolitical uncertainty
Contrary to hopes at the start of the year,
Europe’s largest economy is likely to shrink
for a second straight year in 2024, the
government said this week in revising its
previous 0.3% GDP growth projection to a 0.2%
decline.
The economy shrank 0.3% in 2023 and has not
been able to generate strong growth since 2018.
Weak or negative GDP trends translate into
lower demand for chemicals.
So far this year, demand for chemicals from
nearly all domestic key customer industries,
except food and paper, has been weak, said VCI
economist Christiane Kellermann.
Year-on-year % changes in domestic
chemical sales, by major customer markets,
January-August 2024:
Construction: -3.9%
Plastics: -4.5%
Metal products: -7.4%
Autos: -5.8%
Food: +1.5%
Glass, ceramics: -7.8%
Paper: +0.9%
Printing products: -7.3%
Furniture: -7.3%
Machinery: -8.3%
Electrical equipment: -16.1%
Source: VCI
Many of the chemical industry’s customers in
manufacturing are curbing their production, and
in the important construction end market there
is no noticeable recovery.
Meanwhile, export sales of German chemicals
were weak in most regions, with the exception
of Asia, Kellermann said.
Year-on-year % changes in chemical
exports, by region, January-July:
EU: -2.5%
Non-EU Europe: -1.1%
Asia: +1.8%
North America: -3.6%
Latin America: -3.4%
Source: VCI
INVESTMENTSThe low
demand translates into low production rates and
low capacity utilization.
In fact, over the past two-and-half years
chemical producers have been running plants at
utilization levels that were below
profitability thresholds, Kellermann said.
As companies suffer low demand in Germany, with
little prospect of improvement, and cannot run
existing plants and equipment at profitable
levels, it does not make sense for them to
invest in new plants, she said.
In a recent VCI survey, 74% of chemical
companies said they were unlikely to invest in
expanding production in Germany, she noted.
Only 15% said they were likely to invest in
expanding production while 9% were undecided,
according to the survey.
Companies cited the country’s bureaucracy and
long project permitting processes, high energy
and labor costs, and high and complicated
corporate taxes as key obstacles to investing
in Germany.
Only 13% said that a lack of trained workers
deterred them from investing in the country.
With little or no new investment, “import
pressures” rise and the chemical industry’s
export capabilities will decline in coming
years, she said.
Germany’s chemical industry loses in
international competitiveness, in particular in
energy-intensive basic chemicals, she added.
GEOPOLITICAL RISKS
Michael Gromling, an economist from the German
Economic Institute in Cologne, who was also
presenting at the VCI webinar, estimated that
in order to return to a meaningful growth path
and achieve a recovery (“Aufschwung”),
Germany needed to generate annual average GDP
growth of 2.5% from 2025 through 2030.
This, however, was “not realistic”, given the
weakness across all industries and the
geopolitical and structural challenges
companies face, he said.
The country’s industries were export-dependent
and therefore sensitive to geopolitical
tensions, trade conflicts and protectionism, he
said.
Geopolitical tensions were holding back
investment decisions, and without a detente it
would be very difficult for Germany to achieve
its Aufschwung, he said.
An end to the Ukraine war and peace in the
Middle East would be a “game changer”, creating
an opportunity for reviving the global
investment cycle, he added.
However, rather than relaxing, tensions could
further sharpen after the 5 November US
presidential election, he said.
Gromling did not say which candidate – current
Vice President Kamala Harris or former
President Donald Trump – he sees as the greater
risk.
For the time being, VCI maintains its 2024
growth forecast for the country’s
chemical-pharmaceutical production unchanged at
3.5% (excluding pharma: +5.0%). If realized,
the increase would only partially offset last
year’s 7.9% production decline (excluding
pharma: -10.4%).
However, VCI may cut its 2024 sales forecast of
1.5% as exports were trending weaker than
expected, Kellermann indicated.
Focus article by Stefan
Baumgarten
Thumbnail image source: VCI
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene11-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Markets editor Stephanie Wix and
reporter Meeta Ramnani join senior editor
manager Vicky Ellis to pick out key themes
ahead of the 29th Fakuma plastics processing
trade fair in Germany, in this latest ICIS
podcast.
They discuss the clash of pessimism and
optimism for acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene (ABS), the changing European landscape
for polycarbonate (PC) given ADNOC’s recent
offer
for Covestro, and pressure from cheap
imports for PE
and PP and engineering plastics polyacetal
(POM)
and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT).
Fakuma runs from 15-19 October.
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Butadiene11-Oct-2024
BARCELONA (ICIS)–German specialty group Evonik
plans to restructure two of its business units,
putting non-core assets up for sale, closure or
partnerships.
The Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health
Care businesses will be extensively
reorganized, with operations generating sales
of €350 million slated for strategic changes,
the company said on Friday.
In Health Care, production of keto acids for
pharmaceutical applications in Hanau, Germany,
is to be discontinued at the end of 2025, with
the loss of around 260 jobs. For the sites in
Ham (France) and Wuming (China) active in the
same business, partnerships or divestments are
being evaluated. The amino and keto acids
business generates sales of around €100
million.
In future, the Health Care business line will
focus on what Evonik considers to be its growth
areas: lipids for mRNA and gene therapies, drug
delivery systems, and cell culture ingredients.
Caspar Gammelin, head of the Nutrition &
Care division, said: “Our amino and keto acids
businesses in Ham and Wuming are strong and
offer great potential. With investments in
these sites, these businesses could reach their
full potential and flourish. We are therefore
examining options such as partnerships or
divestments that would allow the businesses to
prosper.”
COATINGS RESTRUCTURE
Evonik’s Coating & Adhesive Resins business
line will focus on two core areas for growth:
liquid polybutadienes as additives for
adhesives and sealants or tires, and specialty
acrylics for medical technology and the
packaging industry.
The business line’s existing polyolefins
business, with sales of around €100 million,
will be transferred to the C4 chain business at
Evonik. In the future, the business will be
sold as part of the C4 chain business.
The €150 million turnover polyester business
for coating and adhesive applications is to be
sold. It has around 330 employees in Germany
and China. The largest site, with around 250
employees, is in Witten (Germany). A smaller
plant in Shanghai has around 30 employees.
Lauren Kjeldsen, head of the responsible
division Smart Materials, said: “To be
successfully competing in the long term
globally and to generate the necessary margins,
investments are needed – and other companies
for which polyester is a core business can
realize these better than we can.”
Evonik, like many of its peers in the European
chemical sector, is under intense pressure from
mainly China-driven global overcapacity, with
companies under pressure to take radical action
to focus on core assets and close or sell other
operations.
As well as the ramp-up in global production
capacity, the region is being battered by a
global slump in demand and a high cost base,
which has led to collapsing margins and a wave
of capacity closures across Europe.
Thumbnail photo: Evonik’s Essen, Germany,
campus. Source: Evonik
Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate11-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Senior Editor for Recycling Matt
Tudball discusses the latest developments in
the European recycled polyethylene
terephthalate (R-PET) market, including:
UK colourless flake range widens in October
Eastern Europe bale, flake price views
divided
Frustration around single-use plastics
directive (SUPD) uncertainty
Food-grade pellet demand weak ahead of
January SUPD target
Polyester11-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Imagine you sold a product with
no control over how much of it was produced at
any one time; that you had to sell it within
weeks of it being produced regardless of what
the demand for it was like; and that the demand
was constantly changing.
For most waste managers, no imagination is
required, this is their daily reality. And it’s
one of the biggest drivers of volatility
throughout the recycling chain globally.
Waste originates from both the general public
and industry, and as a result, the composition
and quantity of waste generated at any one time
varies continuously depending on consumer
behaviour and industrial production trends.
Waste managers typically hold contracts for
waste collection with municipalities. They
cannot turn material away. Because of
variations in consumer and industrial
production trends, different countries can have
vastly different supply at any one time.
The quality of that input waste (how
contaminated it is, the tensile strength etc.)
depends on a variety of factors including how
it’s been treated and stored before its entered
the chain, the type of additives it contains,
what other materials it has come into contact
with (because contact with substances such as
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) causes contamination),
level of discolouration, gel content, and
odour.
Coupled with this, the more times a polymer has
been recycled, the lower its tensile strength,
and typically end-use suitability becomes
increasingly limited. How many cycles it takes
before the waste material becomes unusable
varies from polymer-to-polymer, process to
process, and level of other degradation.
The longer you store waste (this is typically,
but not exclusively, in the form of bales)
without reprocessing it – or selling it on for
reprocessing – the more it degrades.
This can be due to a number of things,
including the contaminants it contains,
thermolytic degradation (from heat – typically
the sun), and hydrolytic degradation (from
water – common in the case of polyethylene
terephthalate (PET).
Meanwhile, new (and perhaps more valuable)
strains of waste are constantly entering the
chain, and warehouse space is limited.
If the waste quality is too low, then waste
managers either need to dispose of the
material, sell it to the burn-for-energy
sector, or use it captively for energy
creation. Burn-for-energy bales typically sell
at negative values, whereby sellers pay for the
removal of waste based on cost saving against
alternative disposal methods.
As a result, most waste managers look to
offload bales within a timeframe of around 4-6
weeks (although this varies from market to
market).
Reprocessed recycled material, meanwhile,
serves a huge variety of end-use markets. Major
offtake markets include, but aren’t limited to,
packaging, construction, automotive, outdoor
furniture, refuse bags, strapping, and
horticulture.
Demand between the end-uses also varies
dramatically, and players in each market
purchase for differing reasons.
Some markets, such as packaging, are heavily
driven by brand sustainability targets and
regulation, other markets, such as
construction, mostly purchase on cost saving
against virgin.
This has huge impacts on willingness to pay,
Intensifying legislative and consumer pressure
on sustainability in packaging over the past
few years has seen a significant pricing gap
develop between display packaging suitable, and
non-display packaging suitable grades across
most global recycled polymer markets.
There is currently, for example, a spread of up
to €1,500/tonne between the highest priced
grade of Europe recycled polypropylene (R-PP)
pellet (which is a post-consumer natural grade
predominantly used in domestic goods and
cosmetic applications), and the lowest priced
grade (which is black injection-moulded
pellets, which typically serves non-packaging
applications).
Ideally (from their point of view) waste
managers and recyclers would primarily serve
applications driven by sustainability targets
where premiums are typically highest.
Nevertheless, each downstream market has
differing technical requirements – with
display packaging and automotive typically
having the strictest technical requirements and
construction, bin bags and outdoor furniture
the lowest. This means that there is typically
a higher volume of material sold into
non-packaging applications.
While sorting allows waste managers to extract
the valuable fractions and, to an extent,
control contaminants etc. it doesn’t control
the input waste mix. So the type of material
suitable to serve each application is changing
constantly. There is also a direct correlation
between feedstock waste quality and reprocessed
output quality for both mechanical and chemical
recycling.
This creates a continuous supply/demand
mismatch that is often underappreciated by
players newly entering the market.
This mismatch coupled with the need to offload
material relatively quickly is the reason, for
example, 90% mixed polyolefin bale prices have
traded as high as €600/tonne ex-works NWE
(northwest Europe) and as low as €0/tonne
ex-works NWE since July 2022.
Because waste
fractions typically produce a variety of
different flake and pellet grades depending on
what is extractable from individual bales –
especially for recycled polyolefins – they
typically react to system wide demand in each
locality.
Individual flake and pellet prices, though,
often react to demand from specific end-use
markets. This can result in periods where waste
bale prices are high but prices for some flake
and pellet grades those bales serve are low,
resulting in squeezed margins.
This is especially true for grades that are
purchased for cost-saving reasons, meaning that
they need to aggressively compete with virgin
and off-spec material.
The reverse also regularly occurs, whereby bale
prices can be low because demand in key
end-uses such as construction is weak and
general availability of waste is high, but
volumes extracted for packaging suitable grades
are limited and demand from that particular
sector is firm.
It is also increasingly common for material
with broadly identical specifications to trade
at different price levels depending on which
sector it is being sold into.
Further distortions in the chain are created
because reprocessed material such as flakes and
pellets can be stored for long-periods of time,
and flake and pellet producers are not forced
to offload material as quickly as waste
managers.
This leads to fragmented and localised
downstream markets where spreads against
feedstock costs and profitability are
constantly shifting.
Volatile feedstock costs also results in
challenges for investment. This is particularly
true for emerging technologies such as chemical
recycling and bio-based plastics.
Thatis because new producers seeking private
investment are often required to project future
costs (typically for a period of at least 5
years), with waste feedstock typically their
largest variable cost. The unpredictability of
waste values make this a herculean task.
When players first explore circular plastic
markets, they are often surprised by the
variability and fragmentation of prices through
the chain. In the majority of cases the direct
cause can be traced back to the feedstock waste
markets.
ICIS assesses more than 100 grades
throughout the recycled plastic value chain
globally – from waste bales through to pellets.
This includes recycled polyethylene (R-PE),
recycled PET (R-PET), R-PP, mixed plastic waste
and pyrolysis oil. On 1 October ICIS launched a
recycled polyolefins agglomerate price range as
part of the Mixed Plastic Waste and Pyrolysis
Oil (Europe) pricing service. For more
information on ICIS’ recycled plastic products,
please contact the ICIS recycling team at
recycling@icis.com
Crude Oil11-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–The UK’s economy picked up
slightly in August following two months of zero
growth in June and July, official data showed
on Friday.
August GDP grew by 0.2%, driven by higher
output in services (0.1%), production (0.5%)
and construction (0.4%).
Real GDP also grew by 0.2% in the three months
to August compared with the three months to
May, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
said.
Second-quarter GDP grew
by 0.5% in the UK, while growth in Q1 was
0.7%.
Ammonia10-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Roaring ashore as a Category 3
hurricane late 9 October and bringing fierce
winds, heavy rainfall and significant inland
storm surge Hurricane Milton inundated the
Tamp, Florida area, which is a key hub of the
US fertilizer industry.
In the aftermath of the storm there were market
sources, based in this region, who were
reporting being unharmed but that they were now
facing considerable flooding, which was causing
property damage in places and overall
restricting public movement.
The section of Florida pounded by Milton is the
location of not only production sites but also
storage and logistic operations as well as
corporate office facilities and the home to the
numerous employees of the local fertilizer
industry.
The Port of Tampa, which handles about 25% of
domestic fertilizer exports, said on their
website that recovery efforts have begun, and
that staff is working with the US Army Corps of
Engineers, US Coast Guard and other maritime
partners to assess landside and seaside
operations.
“Our port is currently without power. Some
damage was observed to buildings but there has
been no significant damage to docks, so far.
The port is accessible through main gates, but
please be advised there are road closures and
flooding concerns in the surrounding roadways
to our port,” the Port of Tampa announced.
“We are working with our fuel terminal
operators to assess their facilities and learn
when they will be able to return to service.
Individual port tenants will make independent
decisions on when to resume their operations.”
The extent of impacts to the fertilizer
industry were not yet clear but Canadia
fertilizer producer Nutrien, who only has the
White Springs phosphate facility within
Florida, said the company is still dealing with
the impacts of the last storm but was able to
avoid further issues from this hurricane.
“While Nutrien’s White Springs phosphate
facility was not impacted by Hurricane Milton,
we are continuing to assess the timeline for
White Springs’ restart following Hurricane
Helene. Nutrien’s nitrogen facilities
were not impacted by Hurricane Milton,” said a
Nutrien spokesperson.
Fertilizer titan Mosaic, who not only has their
headquarters within Tampa but also has numerous
assets for production and logistics, said their
immediate focus is on their workforce.
“As Hurricane Milton has now passed through
central Florida, we are working to contact our
employees and confirm their safety. When
conditions allow, we’ll begin assessing the
impacts on our operations,” said Mosaic.
There were concerns ahead of the storm over the
potential environmental consequences of Milton
as Florida has 25 stacks of slightly
radioactive phosphogypsum waste that are a
by-product of phosphate fertilizer production.
The fear that the winds and rains could release
the material across the land and water
resources that are nearby as has occurred in
past hurricane events.
There was no immediate report of the conditions
of the stacks as of late 10 October but ahead
of the storm Florida environmental officials
had said they were preparing and would have all
resources available to oversee the regulated
facilities and operations.
Sources said the areas that were more south of
Tampa were apparently struck harder but there
has not been full confirmation of the damages
inflicted with a source saying it is a
“different story down there”.
There were weather reports of over 18 inches of
rain having been received in nearby St
Petersburg, Florida.
The hurricane also generated several strong
tornadoes as it approached which are being
blamed for some of the physical damage to
structures.
A market participants said that with it being
less than 24 hours since landfall it was going
to take some time for the fertilizer industry
to assess the scale of the impacts from Milton,
saying it is “too soon for that”.
Federal and state officials have not yet
projected an estimated amount of damages as
assessments were just barely getting underway.
It likely did great harm to the Florida citrus
industry with orange groves bearing fruit and
drawing close to their harvest period.
It is feared that it will be determined in the
coming days that the storm’s intensity will
result in a substantial decline in production
this season, with others crops having also been
exposed to harm like sugarcane and
strawberries.
Speciality Chemicals10-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Backlogs created by the
three-day strike at US Gulf and East Coast
ports could last for two to three weeks,
although there are indications that operations
could return to normal sooner rather than later
at the Port of New York/New Jersey.
Judah Levine, head of research at online
freight shipping marketplace and platform
provider Freightos, said many industry analysts
were predicting two to three weeks to clear the
backlog of container ships created when the
International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)
went on strike.
Levine estimated there were 45-60 vessels at
anchor off US Gulf and East Coast ports from
the strike.
But he said officials at the Port of New
York/New Jersey, the largest on the East Coast,
said the work stoppage was more akin to short
weather-related closures they see with winter
storms and expect operations could return to
normal in a matter of days, and maybe even by
the end of the week.
Levine said the larger impact could be from a
build in containers at the ports.
Some ports extended gate times to allow
customers extra time to collect or deliver
containers.
“In the meantime, shippers with containers at
the ports or on vessels at anchor or vessels
arriving quite soon will probably continue to
experience some delays, and for some that could
impact inventory availability in the next
couple weeks,” Levine said.
The strike did not impact the movement of
liquid chemical tankers as most terminals that
handle those vessels are privately owned and do
not necessarily use union labor.
Also, tankers do not require as much labor as
container or dry cargo vessels, which must be
loaded and unloaded with cranes and require
labor for forklifts and trucks.
Container ships and costs for shipping
containers are relevant to the chemical
industry because while most chemicals are
liquids and are shipped in tankers, container
ships transport polymers, such as polyethylene
(PE) and polypropylene (PP), are shipped in
pellets.
They also transport liquid chemicals in
isotanks.
IMPACT OF STRIKE, HURRICANES ON
TRUCKING
Market participants are also watching for tight
supply or shortages of inland trucking services
because of the work stoppage and because of two
hurricanes in succession that hit Florida and
other southeastern states.
Downstream chemical buyers and compounders
could begin to see issues with road freight in
terms of higher costs and lower availability.
Rates could see upward pressure given the
severity of the damage to roads and highways in
the East Tennessee and North Carolina regions
as the US Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) works to assist in the recovery.
FEMA also gets precedence on trucking to be
able to move goods or equipment needed for the
recovery efforts.
UPDATE ON ILA/USMX
NEGOTIATIONS
While the work stoppage ended after three days,
the terminology was that it was suspended until
15 January, with only the salary part of a
future deal agreed to by both parties.
Levine said the union remains steadfast in its
opposition to any kind of automation at the
ports – full or semi – that would replace jobs
or historical work functions.
Levine said the union has continued to state
its case against automation even as they
returned to work.
Levine said shippers will keep 15 January in
mind as there is a chance another work stoppage
could occur if no definitive agreement is
reached by then.
Visit the ICIS Logistics – impact on
chemicals and energy topic
page
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