Brazil-based petrochemical producer Braskem's domestic resin sales fell by 9pc in the third quarter from a year before, with volumes also down in the US, Europe, and Mexico.
International resin price references during the period were lower, impacting domestic sales' profitability, Braskem said in its preliminary third-quarter production and sales report. This effect was offset by the positive impact of antidumping measures applied over polyethylene (PE) imports from the US and Canada during the quarter and the company's strategy to supply the Brazilian market.
Resin sales in Brazil reached 787,000 metric tonnes (t) in the third quarter, down by 9pc from 869,000t a year earlier. Braskem's domestic resin sales fell by 5pc from the second quarter, driven by lower PE sales due to increased imports in July-August and weaker polypropylene (PP) sales amid reduced demand in the Brazilian market.
Domestic chemical sales totaled 700,000t in the third quarter, 2pc lower than a year earlier and 11pc higher than in the second quarter. The increase was mainly driven by higher paraxylene sales following the normalization of operations after a planned shutdown, as well as increased demand for ethylene and propylene due to resumed customer operations. Higher demand for gasoline, a result of greater product availability, also contributed.
In Mexico, PE sales through the Braskem Idesa joint venture fell by 30pc year-on-year to 146,000t, mostly because of lower product availability, while spreads in the international market remained stable.
Braskem Idesa's plant utilization rate fell to 47pc, down by 27 percentage points from a year earlier, because of a scheduled maintenance shutdown and reduced ethane supply from Mexico's state-owned Pemex, which fell to 11,300 b/d from 28,900 b/d in the previous year. But the company's plant utilization rate rose by 3 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.
Additionally, the company's new ethane terminal, Terminal Quimica Puerto Mexico (TQPM), began supplying ethane to Braskem Idesa. TQPM, still in the commissioning phase, received approximately 11,300 b/d.
Third-quarter PP sales reached 495,000t, according to consolidated figures for the US and Europe. That is a 1pc drop from a year earlier and a 2pc decrease from the previous quarter due to lower demand in both regions.
Braskem's combined US and Europe PP plant utilization hit 79pc of capacity, up by 3 percentage points year-on-year and an increase from 74pc in the prior quarter.
Braskem will report full third-quarter results on 10 November, it said.
