Brazil had no HDPE injection offers to the Andean Countries in November, a source at Braskem said Tuesday.
"Due to the cracker and plant shutdowns in Triunfo, we are not offering HDPE injection this month to Ecuador, Colombia and Peru," the source added.
Braskem started the turnaround of its smallest steam cracker in Triunfo on October 26. The maintenance was expected to last at least 40 days, and Braskem believes they would have the cracker back on line in the first week of November.
The company has two crackers at the site that combined can produce 1,252,000 mt/year of ethylene, with the smaller cracker under shutdown being responsible for 40% of the production, or 500,800 mt/year.
Along with the cracker shutdown, Braskem shutdown its 550,000 mt/year PE4 (HDPE and LLDPE) plant at the same complex on November 1 and the company planned to bring it back on line this week. The company's 415,000 mt/year PE5 (LLDPE, HDPE and green PE) units were also scheduled for a 10 day maintenance from November 16.
According to the source, Braskem was going to be short in LLDPE and HDPE blow molding as well during November and possibly December.
The company did not disclose precisely how much PE would be available to Andean Countries.
Braskem's offer prices for the Andean area were heard Tuesday at $1,450/mt CFR for HDPE film, $1,400/mt CFR for blow molding and at $1,500/mt CFR for LDPE film.
"We are having a meeting tomorrow and for certain grades we should have a small increase in offers," said the source.
