BRASÍLIA: Brazil’s largest petrochemical producer, Braskem, is continuing its strategy of turning to the export market to maintain its sale levels, given the drop in domestic demand for polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC, company officials said Thursday during a first-quarter earnings call. PE, PP and PVC exports jumped in Q1 to over 415,000 mt, it said, a 62% increase compared with the year-ago quarter (256,000 mt) and a 107% rise from the previous quarter (200,000 mt).
An 18% shrinkage in domestic resin sales and the further depreciation of the Brazilian real supported a focus on PVC exports for the fourth straight quarter, despite the fact Brazil is historically a net PVC importer, Braskem said.
During Q1, PVC export sales came to over 34,000 mt, against 13,000 mt in Q4 2015. The main destinations of the exports were Singapore, Japan and the US. In the year-ago quarter, PVC exports were close to zero.
“During the first quarter [2016], we exported roughly 9,000 mt of PVC to the US,” Braskem CEO Fernando Musa said. PE and PP exports in Q1 amounted to a combined 381,000 mt, a 48% increase compared with Q1 2015 (256,000 mt), the company said. Braskem said its PP exports went mainly to South America, Europe and North America.
