Uzbek producer resumes PP, PE production

According to an agent of the producer, South Korea’s Lotte Chemical restarted its joint venture petrochemical complex in Uzbekistan as of October 11. The complex, which produces 390,000 tons/year of HDPE and 80,000 tons/year of PP, was offline for maintenance since the start of October.

“The producer will have some stocks to offer probably by the end of October. Fresh offers from the plant are likely to be revealed to the export markets by early November, at the latest. We will not have much material in our bonded-warehouse for the coming term,” the agent confirmed to ChemOrbis. Not much material influx is expected from the plant to Turkey for the weeks to come as the producer aims to sell its materials to other export markets where higher netbacks are obtainable.

Import Uzbek HDPE prices in Turkey firmed up during the last two weeks amidst reduced supplies stemming from the shutdown. Very limited offers were reported this week with HDPE film prices currently standing at $1130-1140/ton CIF Turkey, subject to 3% customs duty, cash. “We did not hear any Uzbek PP offers this week,” a trader noted, meanwhile.

A trader opined, “The record high USD/TL parity keeps demand limited nowadays. We don’t expect major gains in the PE market despite the crude rally and limited supplies at warehouses.”