An inconspicuous accident can cause a chain reaction. Production safety is an inescapable topic in the chemical industry.
Sudden! A chemical plant exploded in Chongqing! 1 dead and 3 injured!
Recently, the Emergency Bureau of Chongqing Changshou Economic Development Zone issued a notice on the accident. The notice mentioned: On February 24, during the shutdown of Chongqing Yingtianhui Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co., Ltd. for maintenance, the storage tank was damaged by workers during maintenance operations. A flash rupture occurred, causing one death and three minor injuries. There were no secondary disasters. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
According to media reports, after the explosion, local firefighting, medical and other departments rushed to the scene to deal with it and sent the injured to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible. According to preliminary understanding: the explosion did not cause the leakage of harmful gases.
For Chongqing BASF’s upstream supplier!
It is reported that the company involved in the accident is the upstream raw material supplier of Chongqing BASF’s MDI plant, providing it with production raw materials such as liquid chlorine and caustic soda, as well as brine recovery, etc.
Affected by this sudden explosion, the Chongqing BASF MDI device, which was originally scheduled to restart this week, cannot re-determine the restart time. From the afternoon of February 24, BASF’s MDI products will be closed. Subsequently, market players held back the market and waited for a rise, and some players’ market quotes increased over the weekend.
Previously, BASF announced that it would suspend production and maintenance of its Chongqing, China MDI unit (400,000 tons/year) starting from February 6. The maintenance is expected to last 3-4 weeks, and the production line recovery time is expected to be from February 27 to March 5. day. However, affected by this incident, Chongqing BASF may postpone the restart time.
RMB 2,000 more per ton, Wanhua MDI rises for three consecutive years!
On February 28, Wanhua Chemical released an announcement on the price of MDI in China for March. The listed price of polymerized MDI was 19,800 yuan/ton (an increase of 2,000 yuan/ton from the price in February); the listed price of pure MDI was 24,500 yuan/ton (an increase of 2,000 yuan/ton from the price in February). The monthly price will be increased by 2,000 yuan/ton).
Since entering 2023, Wanhua Chemical has accumulated “three consecutive increases”. As of now, Wanhua Chemical’s polymerized MDI has increased by 3,000 yuan/ton during the year; pure MDI has increased by 4,500 yuan/ton during the year.
Supply tightens, downstream picks up, MDI regains momentum?
After the year, MDI pushed up sentiment significantly.
On January 27, BASF announced a price increase for MDI basic products in ASEAN and South Asia, with an increase of US$300/ton, effective from now on.
In February, MDI manufacturers around the world conducted intensive maintenance, and MDI operating rates declined.
Domestically, Wanhua Ningbo’s 800,000 tons/year MDI plant and BASF’s Chongqing 400,000 tons/year MDI plant are both in the maintenance period.
Overseas, Germany’s Covestro’s 200,000-ton MDI device is still shut down due to damage to the electrolytic cathode wire. BASF’s 650,000-ton MDI device in Belgium is currently running at low load and is scheduled to be shut down for maintenance in early March. It is expected to restart in March. Late month. Huntsman’s 470,000 tons/year MDI plant in the Netherlands has entered a state of rest. Among them, the 350,000 tons/year unit will start maintenance in mid-February and is expected to be completed from mid-March to mid-April. Another set of 120,000 tons/year device will be inspected later, but there is no start-up plan in the short term. The start-up time will be determined after demand recovers.
On the demand side, under the expectation of a recovery in the consumer market, after the Spring Festival, the operating rate of domestic weaving companies began to gradually pick up, and the demand for spandex was gradually released. In just a few days from January 30 to February 3, the average price of domestic spandex increased by about 2,000 yuan/ton. Among them, the mainstream shipping price range of 40D products is 33,000 yuan/ton to 37,000 yuan/ton, and the shipping price range of 20D specification products is 37,000 yuan/ton to 46,000 yuan/ton. The actual inventory of mainstream spandex companies is only about 20 days, which is far lower than the normal inventory and average inventory level of the industry.
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