ICIS Pricing Launches Weekly Asian Polypropylene Margin Report

SINGAPORE, August 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS pricing, the leading price reporting service for the global chemical industry, has added a weekly polypropylene (PP) margin report to its series of Asian margin reports.

The new ICIS pricing weekly Polypropylene Asia Margin report models the integrated production of polypropylene from both naphtha (steam cracker) and propane (propane dehydrogenation) feedstocks. The report assesses producer integrated cash costs and margins by modelling feedstock and key variable costs, co-product credits and product yields across the production chains. The standalone production of polypropylene from propylene is also considered.

Combining ICIS pricing's benchmark price assessments with feedstock yield models from leading engineering contractor Linde Engineering, the report offers an authoritative and independent measure of how the volatile business environment is affecting cash margins. Current market factors such as softening polymer and propylene prices, rising inventory levels in end-markets, particularly China, and competitive import pressures from new regional capacities and the Middle East, all contribute towards price and margin volatility. This transparency of market dynamics provides buyers, sellers and traders with a basis for informed decisions on market positioning.

"An increasing number of our customers are looking for new referencing mechanisms for their long-term business needs," said Paul Ray, Head of Data & Analytics, ICIS. "This report opens the door for providing consistent, dependable and independent referencing to cost and margin data."

The concise 3-page report includes charts, tables and bullet-point summaries, giving a clear indication of both short-term and long-term trends.

The launch of the Polypropylene Asia Margin report builds on the success of existing Asian Ethylene and Polyethylene margin reports.

ICIS publishes trusted pricing information and analyses the factors driving the chemical industry. ICIS weekly polypropylene pricing reports are widely used for benchmarking and market intelligence, to underpin commercial contracts and to support key business decisions.

ICIS pricing's full portfolio of margin reports and a video of how they are compiled can be found at http://www.icis.com/margins

Request a sample copy of the Polypropylene Asia Margin report from ICIS pricing at http://tinyurl.com/343h3p5 or by emailing [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

ICIS pricing

ICIS pricing, http://www.icispricing.com, an independent pricing and market intelligence service from ICIS, provides chemical and oil markets with reports published daily, weekly or monthly on more than 120 products. The pricing information is gathered by teams of experienced reporters in London, Houston, Singapore and Shanghai to offer the most complete, authoritative and up-to-the minute independent market information available. For further information on ICIS pricing and ICIS, please visit http://www.icis.com.

Reed Business Information

ICIS is part of Reed Business Information, http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk/ , (RBI), a division of Reed Business and a member of Reed Elsevier plc (525), (UK:REL) (US:RUK) (NL:45443) the world's leading publisher and information provider. RBI publishes over 100 market leading publications, directories and online services, and organises many industry conferences and awards. The RBI portfolio includes Banker's Almanac, Computer Weekly, Farmers Weekly, Flight International, ICIS, Kellysearch, New Scientist, Personnel Today, Totaljobs and XpertHR. For a full listing visit http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk

    For further information please contact:

    Kirsty Fleck
    ICIS pricing
    tel: +44-208-652-8377
    email: [email protected]

SOURCE ICIS Pricing