台聚亞聚 購料陷入兩難

經濟日報╱記者吳秉鍇／高雄報導
2009.11.26 02:44 am

受中東供料短缺影響，亞洲乙烯現貨行情逼近今年新高每公噸1,100美元，打亂國內相關各石化廠下個月原料布局，國內聚乙烯生產廠擔心被套牢，相繼退出市場觀望，陷入兩難情勢。

法人表示，包括台聚（1304）、亞聚（1308）等均傳出12月有需求缺口，若再不出手購料，下個月勢必被迫降低旗下生產線開工率，恐影響其下個月營收及獲利表現。

石化廠業者表示，近期亞洲地區各輕裂廠面對原油價格高漲，開始拉抬乙烯現貨行情；因傳出伊朗國家石油的輕裂廠因故停產，且中東SABIC也因下游衍生品生產線復工，暫停把乙烯賣至遠東地區。

此舉讓遠東地區乙烯行情由上個月底的每公噸880至900美元，迄今為止，已喊價至每公噸1,090至1,100美元，每公噸漲300美元，短短一個月漲幅逾三成，並接近年中創下的今年新高。

【2009/11/26 經濟日報】@ http://udn.com/

大陸輕判台灣尼龍粒稅率

【經濟日報╱記者劉芳妙／即時報導】

2009.11.23 01:43 pm
中國大陸提出進口尼龍六切片（（尼龍粒）反傾銷告訴，結果對最大進口來源台灣輕判稅率，除了受惠於兩岸關係升溫，讓這個傾銷案意外峰迴路轉，中國大陸對傾銷案「高高舉起，輕輕放下」的善意回應，也為明年兩岸簽訂經濟合作架構協議（ECFA），營造最佳氛圍。

業者樂觀預期，一旦兩岸簽訂ECFA，不僅免除了原本6.5%的進口關稅優惠，同時等於抵消了4%至4.3%不等的傾銷稅率，未來新廠再蓋廠加入市場，也要一段時間，可以預見，「台灣尼龍業至少仍有三年的好光景」。

近期因苯價刺激CPL現貨價走揚，加上大陸買盤升溫，在傾銷案確立後，對台灣大大加分，尼龍廠銷售轉趨熱絡，第四季尼龍旺季似已點火引爆

【2009/11/23 經濟日報】@ http://udn.com/

尼龍廠 過暖冬

【經濟日報╱記者劉芳妙／台北報導】 2009.11.25 02:36 am

中國大陸大風雪，帶動羽絨服面料需求，加上原料己內醯胺（CPL）現貨價大漲，推升尼龍粒價格逼近今年8月高價，業者預期在大陸下游庫存偏低回補下，有望改寫新高，一貫尼龍廠力鵬（1447）、台化（1326）、集盛（1455）近期銷售暢旺，第四季獲利不看淡。

今年CPL受惠苯價帶動一路飆升，近期苯價再發動攻勢，每公噸站上900美元之上，激勵CPL現貨價再進逼2,120美元附近，直逼今年8月每公噸2,180美元的高檔，連帶推升尼龍粒價格也站上每公噸2,400美元，引爆另一波尼龍纖維搶料風。

據了解，CPL8月過後自高檔反轉直下，連跌兩個月，一度跌到每公噸1,850美元，相關尼龍廠10月獲利相較第三季失色不少。

下游業者分析，尼龍纖維補料積極，歸因中國大陸大風雪，讓羽絨面料相關產品，包括N／T交織、40丹尼尼龍絲或其他特殊規格賣相佳，且去年原料大跌衝擊，今年各供應鏈的庫存都壓得很低，上游尼龍廠指出，十月長假過後，買盤明顯出籠，下游不得不進場搶補庫存。

受惠於CPL一路飆漲，今年一貫尼龍廠獲利大豐收，力鵬與集盛前三季獲利均已超越歷年全年高峰，以各季獲利表現來看，第二季因CPL價差大，尼龍廠獲利最佳，兩家第二季平均毛利率破十，力鵬達11.14%，集盛也達11.98%，累計今年前三季集盛平均毛利率也有10.42%，力鵬為9.26% 。

業者強調，隨11月大陸市況銷售升溫，一貫尼龍廠力鵬和集盛的獲利可望回到第三季單月獲利水準，第四季獲利不看淡。力鵬股價昨天擺脫盤整格局，帶量上攻，收13.7元，上漲0.55元，成交量1萬1,180張；集盛也大漲，收13.35元，上漲0.4元，成交量2萬1,348張。

One word: bioplastics

At a new plant in Iowa, MIT-rooted technology will use bacteria to turn corn into biodegradable plastics.

Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
November 17, 2009

Every year, more than 540 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world’s oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.

“Plastic does not degrade in the ocean. It just gets ground up into tiny particles,” he says. In the Pacific Ocean, a vast swath twice the size of Texas teems with tiny bits of oil-based plastic that can poison ocean life.

Sinskey can’t do much about the plastic that’s already polluting the Earth’s oceans, but he is trying to help keep the problem from getting worse. Next month, a company he founded with his former postdoc, Oliver Peoples, will open a new factory that uses MIT-patented technology to build plastic from corn. The plant aims to produce annually 110 million pounds of the new bioplastic, which biodegrades in soil or the ocean.

That’s a fraction of one percent of the United States’ overall plastic production, which totaled 101.5 billion pounds in 2008. Though it will take bioplastics a long time before they can start making a dent in that figure, the industry has significant growth potential, says Melissa Hockstad, vice president for science, technology and regulatory affairs for SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association.

“Bioplastics are making inroads into new markets and are an important area to watch for the future of the plastics industry,” says Hockstad, who noted that the current global market for biodegradable polymers is estimated at about 570 million pounds per year but is expected to more than double by 2012.

‘Timing is everything’

For Sinskey and Peoples, the road started 25 years ago. Peoples, who had just earned his PhD in molecular biology from the University of Aberdeen, arrived in Sinskey’s lab in 1984 and set out to sequence a bacterial gene. Today, high-speed sequencing machines could do the job in about a week. Back then, it took three years.

That gene, from the bacterium R. eutropha, turned out to code for an enzyme that allows bacteria to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) — a naturally occurring form of polyester — starting with only sunlight, water, and a carbon source. (Bacteria normally manufacture PHA as a way to store carbon and energy.)

Sinskey and Peoples realized that if they could ramp up the bacteria’s plastic producing abilities, they could harness the organisms for industrial use. In 1994, they started a company called Metabolix and took out exclusive patents from MIT on the gene work they had done on PHA-synthesizing bacteria.

Thus began a 15-year effort to develop the technology into a robust, large-scale process, and to win support for such an approach.

On the scientific side, Peoples and the scientists at Metabolix developed a method to incorporate several genes from different bacteria into a strain of E. coli. Using this process, now called metabolic engineering, they eventually created a strain that produces PHA at levels several-fold higher than naturally occurring bacteria.

However, they had some difficulty generating support (and funding) for the idea. In the early 1990s, the public was not very receptive to the idea of alternative plastics. “Oil was $20 a barrel, and people didn’t believe in global warming,” Peoples recalls.

“Timing is everything,” says Sinskey. “There has to be a market for these materials” for them to be successful.

‘Growing interest’

The scientists believe that consumers are now ready for bioplastics. Such plastics have been commercially available for about a decade, mostly in the form of plastic cups, bottles and food packaging. Most of those products are made from a type of plastic called polylactic acid (PLA), which is also produced from corn. PLA is similar to PHA, but PHA has higher heat resistance, according to Peoples.

Possible uses for the Metabolix bioplastics include packaging, agricultural film, compost bags, business equipment and consumer products such as personal care products, gift cards and pens. Products like these, along with existing bioplastic products, tap into a “growing interest in materials that can be made from renewable resources or disposed of through practices such as composting,” says Hockstad.

The new Metabolix plant, located in Clinton, Iowa, is a joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland. Metabolix is also working to engineer crops — including switchgrass — that will grow the plastic directly within the plant.

Turning to those agricultural starting materials could help reduce the amount of petroleum needed to manufacture traditional plastics, which currently requires about 2 million barrels of oil per day (10 percent of total U.S. daily oil consumption). “It’s important to develop alternative ways to make these chemicals,” says Peoples.

Global Demand for Bioplastics to Reach 900,000 Metric Tons by 2013

In the next few years, Braskem and Dow Chemical each plan to open plants in Brazil that will produce polyethylene from sugar cane-based ethanol, while Solvay is expected to open a bio-based polyvinyl chloride facility.

By . IW Staff
Nov. 13, 2009

Bioplastics, plastic resins that are biodegradable or derived from plant-based sources, will rise more than fourfold to 900,000 metric tons in 2013, valued at $2.6 billion, according to a new report from The Freedonia Group. The growth will be fueled by a number of factors, including consumer demand for more environmentally-sustainable products, the development of bio-based feedstocks for commodity plastic resins, and increasing restrictions on the use of nondegradable plastic products, particularly plastic bags.

Most important, however, will be the expected continuation of high crude oil and natural gas prices, which will allow bioplastics to become more cost-competitive with petroleum-based resins.

Non-biodegradable plant-based plastics will be the primary driver of bioplastics demand, posting extraordinary growth from a small 2008 base. In the next few years, Braskem and Dow Chemical each plan to open plants in Brazil that will produce polyethylene from sugar cane-based ethanol, while Solvay is expected to open a bio-based polyvinyl chloride facility.

Biodegradable plastics, such as starch-based resins, polylactic acid (PLA) and degradable polyesters, accounted for the vast majority (nearly 90%) of bioplastics demand in 2008. Double-digit gains are expected to continue going forward, fueled in part by the emergence on the commercial market of polyhydroxy-alkanoates (PHAs). PLA will also see strong advances in demand as new production capacity comes online.

Western Europe was the largest regional market for bioplastics in 2008, accounting for about 40% of world demand. Bioplastics sales in the region benefit from strong consumer demand for biodegradable and plant-based products, a regulatory environment that favors bioplastics over petroleum resins, and an extensive infrastructure for composting.

Going forward, however, demand will grow more rapidly in the Asia/Pacific region, which will surpass the West European market by 2013. Gains will be stimulated by strong demand in Japan, which has focused intently on the replacement of petroleum-based plastics. Other regions, such as Latin America and Eastern Europe, will see stellar gains in bioplastics demand from a very small 2008 base.