EQUOTE Plans to Restart its MEG Unit

Government plans to double per capita plastics consumption

Government is encouraging investments in petrochemical sector and plans to double per capita consumption of plastics to 20 kg a person by 2022, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

"The government has ambitious plans of doubling the current per capita consumption of plastics from the present 10 kg per person to 20 kg per person by 2022," Pradhan said at the 'Indian Oil Petrochemical Conclave 2016' here.


This would require setting up one naphtha cracker every year bringing in huge growth opportunities in employment generation and start of new ancillary industries, among others, the Minister noted.


Pradhan further said, capital outlays worth Rs 2,00,000 crore are expected to be made in diverse product lines - in polyester intermediates, polyester film and yarn, polymers and other petrochemicals.

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India's plastic sector has huge scope for growth

The Indian plastic and petrochemical sector has a huge potential for growth and there is a need for free trade agreement (FTA) and duty inversion to make cost of manufacture in the country cheaper, according to Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.

"The plastic sector has a huge potential for development and there is a great scope for consumption in sector of housing, public infrastructure and agriculture," Ahir said at the inauguration of PolyIndia 2016 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre here on January 28, an official statement said.

Ahir added that there was a need to review free trade agreement (FTA) and duty inversion "which can make cost of manufacture in India cheaper than import".

The three-day exhibition on plastics and petrochemicals was themed 'Indian Plastic and Petrochemical sector: Potential for Global Manufacturing Hub.'

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Positive movement starts in the Global polymer market

The international Polymer market has shown some positive movement in terms of price of commodity and engineering polymers after a couple of months. Prices of  Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) have moved up by USD 10-20 per metric tonne in all categories. The result of that is visible in the Indian polymer market as well, with all the Indian Polymer producers announcing unchanged price revision of polymers,  while Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL) have hike their Polypropylene (PP) basic price by Rs 1.20 per kg.

Firstly, the reason behind this positive movement is that the price of key feedstock .i.e. Ethylene , Propylene and Styrene was also assessed higher in the international key Asian regions and secondly, the slightly improved buying and demand helped in lifting the price in the global market. From conversations with traders, Indianpetrochem gathered that demand for the PVC has noticeably improved and end users have begun to make some profitable purchase for manufacturing products such as pipes and fitting apart from other small units.  

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Indian Polymer market still moving slowly

Price of the commodity polymer were kept unchanged by the Indian producers to make some stability in the market, but the market remain the same. Indian producers announces price protection in Polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE), Polypropylene (PP) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) that's a clear indication that in the coming days price of the polymer will journeyed southward by Rs 1-1.5 per kg.

In communication with the trader in the Ahemdabad market, Indianpetrochem gathered information that demand for the whole plastic remain on the lower. Demand hasn't shown any change in behaviour from the last couple of month. Its going down day by day and traders are not interested in having conversation with the analyst regarding the ongoing thin trading atmosphere. As the price of the polymers were moving down their feedstock's following the same pattern. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) demand continuously moving on the same trajectory as it's moving from the last 2-3 months .i.e. downward. ABS which is widely used in the manufacturing of Television cabinets (C-TV), Refrigerator , Air conditioner (A.C.) and in the outer covering of the Batteries but of the onset of winter season in the nation slowdown its demand, while price of the respective was reported down in the International as well as Domestic market...

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Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) price gains momentum in Indian market

Taking weak cues from the global petrochemical market has resulted in the slackening demand of products from the plastic industries. It is not difficult to conjecture that the continuous fall in Polymer material price and the weakening trend in global market is on account of low crude oil prices and most of the plants were offline due to maintenance turnaround, observe polymer traders. Internationally, eroding demand for the polymer kept up considerable pressure on the price. Besides, slackened demand from end users too pulled down polymer prices.

In the international market, price of all grades of Polypropylene (PP) slumped by USD 20-30 per metric tonne, while price of all grades of Polyethylene has plunged by USD 10-15 per metric tonne.

EVA one of the products of Ethylene, namely, Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) is moving through thin trading atmosphere in the domestic polymer market. Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) price however has hiked in the market because of firstly, the increasing Ethylene price and secondly, due to suppliers not offering 18% EVA resin,  which is the main component in making shoe soles.

Assam Gas Cracker Project partially commissioned

Thirty years after it was incorporated in the Assam Accord and eight years after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid its foundation stone, the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), also known as the Assam gas cracker project, was partially commissioned on Saturday.

Three units of the petrochemical plant — the gas sweetening unit (GSU), C2+recovery unit and polypropylene unit (PPU) — were commissioned in the presence of representatives from Engineers India Limited (EIL), the licensor of the gas sweetening and C2+recovery units, and Lummus Novolen Technology GmbH, Germany, the licensor of the polypropylene unit.

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MRPL to acquire petrochemical plant in Karnataka

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) on Thursday said it will take over a USD 1 billion petrochemical plant adjacent to its refinery in Karnataka in an all share deal.

MRPL had recently raised its stake in ONGC  Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL), which is setting up an aromatic complex adjacent to the Mangalore Refinery at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore, to 51 percent. It will now acquire remaining shares.

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Toluene monthly review: 2015 doesn’t begin on a good note

With Crude oil almost breaking the $50 a bbl level, Toluene doesn’t seem to stabilize any soon. Indianpetrochem.com took a review of toluene prices from the 1st of December 2014 till date.

Styrene Monomer dips further amid week buying sentiment in international market

Styrene monomer (SM) market looks uncertain going into the year 2015. The plunge was driven by falling crude, benzene and naphtha prices. The fall was further triggered by weak upstream and energy sentiment combined with sluggish derivative demand.

Methanol Prices Decline Sharply in Indian Market

Methanol prices have decreased consecutively over the last one week on account of slow demand in Indian market. Indianpetrochem assimilated that the rationale behind this drop in prices was low demand for the chemical in the domestic market. Keeping in view with this, importers have been trying to clear off the remaining stock on low margins.

Tumbling Crude oil prices prevent end user in purchasing

Slipping Crude Oil price in the International market and Downward movement of polymer prices in Domestic market have ceased End users to purchase material. They are purchasing only on need basis or adapting wait and watch mode. The OPEC members and Russia are not ready to cut production rate. One of the other reason which is also accountable is demand supply gap. Oversupply of crude Oil is exceeding demand sentiments as the consequence of it crude oil prices are going down.