Document 4vNggYN3yQBNEpe9EaE2DyvEp

1 CW PRODUCT FOCUS VINYL CHLORIDE MONOMER PRICES: U.S.: September: 23 cts/lb del: Spot: 27 cts-29 cts/lb. EUROPE: Third-quarter contract: $620/m.t. del. ASIA/PACIFIC: Third-quarter con tract; S730/m.t. del. OUTLOOK: Vinyl chloride mono mer (VCM) markets have been extreme ly tight this year, with strong demand-- particularly from the Far East--driving prices up. August VCM prices stood at 23 cts/lb, up from 17 cts/lb in January. VCM producers are running at or near capacity: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which takes 98% of VCM pro duction, is selling at record levels, and inventories are dropping to five-year lows, Dow Chemical is expected to start up a 700-million lbs/year plant at Oyster Creek, TX sometime this month. The next round of U.S. VCM capac ity expansions is not scheduled until early 1996. Geon will increase produc tion at its LaPorte, TX plant by 50%-- or 800 million lbs/year. Oxymar has also said it will expand capacity from 1.5 billion lbs/year to 1.8 billion year. Growth rates for VCM during the next few years are estimated at 5%. While PVC downstream end markets such as housing, construction, auto mobiles, and appliances are expected to continue growing worldwide, green pressure on chlorine products is ex pected to temper VCM growth as the use of recycled PVC increases. TECHNOLOGY: VCM is made by the pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride. While top producers have proprietary processes, engineering firms such as Uhdealso offer VCM technology--some on their own and some from the top producers, notably Geon, Mitsui Toatsu, and Hoechst. (in thousands of m.t/Year) NORTH AMERICA U.S. Borden Chemicals and Plastics Dow Chemical Formosa Plastics Geon Georgia Gulf OxyChem Oxymar PPG Industries Vista Chemical Westlake Monomers CANADA Dow MEXICO Petroleos Mexicanos SOUTH AMERICA ARGENTINA Indupa Monomero Vinilicos Electrochlor BRAZIL CPC Solvay COLOMBIA PERU VENEZUELA Pequiven Capacity 410 1,320 910 365 550 550 635 330 375 450 370 270 50 160 33 400 160 16 8 50 WESTERN EUROPE BELGIUM BASF Umburgse Vinyl Maatshappij Solvic FRANCE Elt Atochem Soctete de Chlorine de Vinyl de Fos (60% Shell Chimie; 40% Elf Atochem) Solvay SA GERMANY BASF Hoechst Huls 160 520 220 250 350 270 100 260 360 ICI Solvay Polymere Wacker-Chemie ITALY European Vinyls Corp. (EVC) (ICI-EniChem) THE NETHERLANDS ROVIN NORWAY Norsk Hydro SPAIN Aiscondel Viniclor (EVC-Atochem-Solvay) SWEDEN Norsk Hydro U.K. European Vinyls Corp. Capacity 320 23 225 700 475 450 150 250 110 400 ASIA/PACIFIC INDONESIA Asahimas Subentra Chemical JAPAN Chiba VCM (Sumitomo-Denki Kagaku-Asahi Glass) Kaneka Kashima VCM (Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi Corp.) Mitsubishi Kasei Mitsui Toatsu Sanyo Monomer Sun Arrow Chemical Tosoh Corp. Other SOUTH KOREA Han Yang Chemical Lucky PHILIPPINES TAIWAN Formosa Plastics Taiwan VCM THAILAND Thai Plastic & Chemical Sources: SRI International (Menlo Park, CA): CW 150 210 430 420 280 98 230 180 465 136 470 210 7 720 420 140 WORLDWIDE DEMAND (in mSfions of m.U 1891 '32 *33 So'j'Ces CMAI (Houston) CW '84 '95 MAJOR CUSTOMERS u.s. Shintech (Houston) OxyChem (Dallas) Geon (Cleveland) Vista Chemical (Houston) Europe Shell Chimie (France) Buna (Germany) Asia/Pacific China General Plastics (Taiwan) Nippon PVC (Japan) Shin-Etsu (Japan) Sourer.- CIV. DEMAND BY REGION Soutc? CMAI (Houston) 72 CIIEMICALWEEK September21, 1994 R & S 147666