LyondellBasell continues with FM on PP supplies from Carrington

25-Aug-10

LyondellBasell continues with force majeure on supplies of polypropylene (PP) from its 210,000 tpa plant at Carrington, UK, as per ICIS. No information is available on the status of the plant. Shut since the weekend of 7-8 August, the plant was not running even in the next week, after which there have been no updates on the status of the plant. However, the plant is deemed to be shut, since customers continue to receive material, but in a lorry with Polish number plates, implying thatPP was being delivered from LyondellBasell’s alternative PP site at Plock, Poland. Few producers continue to report a tight PP market in Europe, but buyers report easing of the situation over the past few weeks. PP buyers have been under heavy pressure to accept price increases throughout 2010, with year-to-date prices having risen by 30%. Speculation was rife over when new capacities from the Middle East would have an impact on the market, but sources said they expect little change to occur in the short term. Changes, if any, will start appearing in Q4.