AKRON, OHIO — The end of three months of flat pricing for North American polyethylene is featured in this week's Material Insights video.
Prices rose an average of 5 cents per pound in September. It was the first market move since May and ended what had been only the third such three-month stretch in the last 14 years. Market watchers cited tighter inventories as a reason for the increase. Regional PE makers now are seeking six-cent increases for October.
Another carbon fiber composite deal for Japanese materials firm Toray Industries Inc. also is featured in this week's video. The firm has bid $584 million for carbon fiber composite supplier Zoltek Cos. of St. Louis. Toray earlier this year bought a 20 percent stake in Plasan Carbon Composites, an auto carbon fiber supplier in Wixom, Mich.
The video wraps up with news that Mexian petrochemical giant Alpek SAB de CV has formed a joint venture with Russian holding company Sistema JSFC to build a PET resin and feedstock plant in the Russina city of Ufa, about 800 miles east of Moscow. The plant will have annual capacities of 1.3 billion pounds each of PET resin and PTA feedstock.