Polyethylene Export Duty Cancelled
The Russian government has cancelled of the 6.5-percent export duty on polyethylene, its press service announced yesterday. The decision goes into effect at the beginning of May. The SIBUR holding had been lobbying for the removal of that duty. Its exports are negligible so far, but its recent purchase of Kazanorgsintez makes future exports more likely. The largest consumers of Russian polyethylene are Ukraine (74,200 tons in 2007), China (51,600 tons), Turkey (21,200 tons), Kazakhstan (16,600 tons) and Belarus (14,500 tons).
Russia produced 645,600 tons of high-pressure polyethylene last year and exported 124,600 tons. It produced 600,600 tons of low-pressure polyethylene in the same period and exported 106,000 tons. The SIBUR holding (through its Tomskneftekhim company) is the main Russian producer of the polymer and accounts for 45 percent of exports. It is followed by Kazanorgsintez, Salavatnefteorgsintez, the Angara Petrochemical Complex and Ufaorgsintez. SIBUR does not produce low-pressure polyethylene. The leading producers of that substance are Stavrolen (controlled by LUKOIL) and Kazanorgsintez. The latter accounts for two-thirds of its export.
SIBUR has an ambitious new program for polyethylene export in conjunction with Gazprom. It allocated 236 million rubles to study the possibility of constructing a plant to produce 450,000-500,000 tons of polyethylene per year using raw materials supplied by the natural gas monopoly's subsidiary Astrakhangazprom. It is also increasing production capacity at Tomskneftekhim and considering building a facility to produce 600,000-650,000 tons of polyethylene per year using raw material from Orenburggazprom.
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All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 10, 2008
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