Overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)  exceeded 631,100 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 1% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output of HDPE, according to MRC"s ScanPlast report.

August production of unmixed PVC was 77,400 tonnes against 51,200 tonnes a month earlier, last month, Russian producers increased capacity utilisation after July shutdown for the shutdowns of SayanskKhimPlast and the Bashkir Soda Company.  Overall PVC production exceeded 631,100 tonnes in January-August 2019, compared to 622,500 tonnes a year earlier. The increase in output from RusVinyl and SayanskKhimPlast did not allow to compensate for the decrease in output from the other two producers.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 30,100 tonnes of PVC in August, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,300 tonnes, compared to 29,500 tonnes a month earlier. Overall PVC production at RusVinyl was 226,400 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 6% year on year.

Such a significant increase in production was a result of the absence of long maintenance works.

Last month, SayanskKhimPlast produced 18,700 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC), while in July this figure amounted to 3,900 tonnes; the company stopped its facilities for monthly scheduled maintenances from 5 July. The Sayansk plant managed to produce about 184,900 tonnes of resin in January-August, compared to 173,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Bashkir Soda Company in August produced about 21,100 tonnes compared to 10,700 tonnes a month earlier; the plant shut PVC production capacities two-week turnaround from 14 July. Total SPVC production at Baskhir Soda Company increased to 169,100 tonnes in the first eight months of this year, compared to 173,500 tonnes in the same period in 2018.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced about 7,500 tonnes of SPVC in August, compared with 7,200 tonnes in July. Kaustik"s overall production of PVC reached 50,700 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019 versus 62,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Source: MRC