HOUSTON–With nearly 55% of unionised General Motors (GM) workers voting to ratify the new labour contract this week, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union now shifts its attention to Ford and Stellantis, with current vote totals indicating the deal should pass comfortably. According to vote trackers on the UAW website, Ford hourly employees have voted 67% to 33% in […]

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US union members at Ford and Stellantis approved new labor contracts, according to vote tallies published on Friday. “It is good news that the union ratified the contract,” said Ramesh Iyer, director, engineering plastics at Chemical Data (CDI).  “The impact was minimized as the high-volume vehicle production were shut down only for a couple […]

SAO PAULO (ICIS)–Braskem Idesa is preparing for the start-up of its new joint venture (JV) ethane terminal along with a major turnaround at its Ethylene XXI cracker and polyethylene (PE) complex in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico in 2025, ahead of a planned expansion of ethylene capacity, its CEO said. The 1.05m tonne/year ethane cracker is running at […]

MUMBAI (ICIS)–India is exploring export opportunities for its green hydrogen and ammonia production and is currently developing logistics infrastructure to prepare for future shipments. The Indian government is in talks with France, Italy and Germany for export opportunities in Europe, a senior official in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said on Friday, adding […]

The global spot weekly ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) remained on a downward trend in the week to 13 October, despite higher crude prices following an escalation of the Middle East conflict and fears about its impact on supply. The spot IPEX index for northeast Asia was down 1.7% in the week, dragged lower by tepid […]

LONDON (ICIS)–The UK government has published its response to the consultation launched in February 2023 on its proposals for a Low Carbon Hydrogen Certification Scheme (LCHCS). A total of 72 responses were received, with the UK government publishing several key policy decisions within the government response. BACKGROUND The UK aims to have up to 1GW […]

LONDON (ICIS)–The ICIS Northwest Europe ammonia-to-hydrogen price regained most of the previous week’s losses during week 43 with ammonia pricing rising as demand is set to pick up in November. The ammonia-to-hydrogen price saw a weekly increase of €0.29/kg to stand at €6.34/kg on 26 October, close to the seven-month high of €6.41/kg set on […]

NEW YORK (ICIS)–Global polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) markets will continue to see headwinds from weak European demand and new capacity through at least H1 2024, but positive signs include strong US PE exports and some improvement in China, executives from LyondellBasell said. “[US] PE exports have gone up during the past quarter, and that […]

LONDON (ICIS)–The ICIS Northwest Europe ammonia-to-hydrogen assessment posted a solid increase on a weekly basis in mid-October with wider gains in the energy complex supporting the assessment with ammonia supply still seen as tight. The ammonia-to-hydrogen assessment posted a weekly increase of €0.76/kg to stand at €6.41/kg on 12 October, the highest value since early […]

SAO PAULO (ICIS)–A potential dollarisation of the Argentinian economy would not be enough to fix the country’s financial woes because it cannot be a substitute for a “sound economic policy”, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) director for the Western Hemisphere said on Friday. Rodrigo Valdes added that for a country to dollarise, its central bank […]