France Petrochemicals Report Q1 2015 - New Report Available

The French petrochemicals industry began a slow recovery in 2014, but BMI's latest France Petrochemicals Report does not envisage a return to pre-recession production volumes following a series of plant closures throughout the value chain.

The shut-down of facilities has not yet been completed with Total's planned closure of ethylene and propylene operations at its petrochemicals plant in Carling planned in 2014. This will remove 400,000tpa of ethylene capacity in 2015. Total has announced plans to spend EUR160mn on polymer production upgrades at the site before 2016 with the creation of a new thermoplastics unit to produce automotive plastics, a capacity expansion for polystyrene (PS) production, and upgrades to the polyethylene (PE) production unit to increase yields of advanced plastics.

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Other French producers are likely to shift from high-volume basic chemicals and petrochemicals to high-value niche products in an effort to improve their competitive edge in the face of an onslaught from low-cost US and Middle Eastern rivals.

We remain sceptical that any major improvements in French exports will prove sustainable, given obstructive bureaucracy, high labour costs and the inflexible labour market that lies at the heart of ongoing competitiveness issues. While improving regional growth dynamics appear to be slowly driving the French economy into positive growth territory, the lack of reform efforts undertaken so far imply that the economy will struggle to regain export competitiveness in the foreseeable future.

* Output of basic chemicals, fertilisers, plastics and synthetic rubber declined by 4.5% in 2012 and 1.7% in 2013. However, there are signs that the industry is slowly turning the corner after a period of consolidation. In H114, plastic output grew 2.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) on average, while rubber production rose 2.0%.
* BMI maintains a downbeat assessment of the industry's prospects. Organic chemical output, which includes polymers and aromatics, was...

The France Petrochemicals Report has been researched at source, and features Business Monitor International (BMI)'s market assessment and independent forecasts for key petrochemicals sub-sectors. The report also analyses the impact of regulatory changes, recent developments and the background macroeconomic outlook and features competitive landscapes comparing companies by products and services, sales, market share, investments, projects, partners and expansion strategies.

BMI's France Petrochemicals Report provides industry professionals and strategists, sector analysts, trade associations and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the French petrochemicals industry.

Key Benefits

* Benchmark BMI's independent petrochemicals industry forecasts to test other views - a key input for successful budgetary and planning in the French petrochemicals market.

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