The U.S. reinstated the Superfund Excise Tax on July 1, 2022. It applies to chemicals and substances commonly used in the plastics industry. How is it impacting producers, distributors, importers and processors? Click here to read more.
M. Holland will be attending the North American Detroit Auto Show on Sept. 14-15. This annual showcase for emerging automotive technologies will be held at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan. If you’re attending, please RSVP for M. Holland’s reception or contact Mike Gumbko, Strategic Account Manager, to set up a meeting with our Automotive team.
M. Holland’s 3D Printing group offers a rapid response alternative for producing selected parts where resin availability is tight. For more information, email our 3D Printing team.
Market Expertise: M. Holland offers a host of resources to clients, prospects and suppliers across nine strategic markets.
Supply
Oil prices gained about 3% Thursday on positive U.S. economic data and robust U.S. fuel consumption.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 0.6% at $91.02/bbl, Brent was up 0.2% at $96.82/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 0.5% at $9.23/MMBtu.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $3.93 a gallon Thursday, down 60 cents the past month.
U.S. natural gas supplies are still more than 10% below normal levels for this time of year, putting upward pressure on prices.
U.S. refiners operated at near-capacity in the second quarter on robust demand and multi-year-high refining margins. Executives say utilization levels will remain high the current quarter.
U.S. oil and gas firms generated $73.7 billion in 2021 profit driven by higher prices. Companies were cautious about capital spending, which reached $144.1 billion, while cash returned to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks more than doubled from the prior year.
U.S. oil reserves held by 50 large companies rose by 13% over the past five years amid higher mergers and acquisitions activity, according to Ernst & Young.
More oil news related to the war in Europe:
European spot power prices declined from near-records Thursday following news of rising German solar supply and French nuclear output.
Germany’s natural gas import prices surged 153% in the first half of 2022 despite a 24.3% drop in volumes. The nation’s government will temporarily cut sales taxes on natural gas from 19% to 7% to help ease the burden on households and industry.
Diesel shipments from Asia to Europe are poised to hit a five-month high in August, a market dislocation caused by higher prices at European hubs.
Spanish demand for gas to generate power jumped 126% in July compared to a year ago, new data shows.
Moscow rejected a United Nations proposal to demilitarize the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, raising fears of a potential future disaster.
Russia has asked buyers from its Sakhalin-2 LNG plant to pay Russian banks instead of U.S. intermediaries, throwing customers such as Japan and South Korea into a dilemma over sanctions that threaten shipments.
Uniper’s Karlshamnsverket reserve power plant in southern Sweden, which was activated a week ago as drought stretches hydropower supplies, suffered an outage Tuesday, illustrating the fragility of Europe’s power industry.
Apple supplier Foxconn’s iPad factory in southwest China has halted production for six days due to a heat-induced power crunch.
Over 230,000 truck trailers moved in North American intermodal rail networks in the second quarter, a 25.2% decline from a year ago.
The Baltic Dry Index measuring pricing in the global bulk commodities market fell 5.3% Thursday, its biggest daily plunge since the start of the pandemic on lower iron ore demand.
China’s semiconductor output tumbled 16.6% in July as supply chains remained under pressure from COVID-19 policies.
Dockworkers at the U.K.’s Port of Liverpool, one of the nation’s largest container ports, voted to authorize a strike over pay and working conditions.
Manufacturers of heating and cooling systems expect the U.S.’s recently passed $430 billion climate bill to boost sales through rebates and tax deductions for energy-efficient appliances.
Britain’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is lagging far behind the nation’s boom in EV sales, which rose 71% over last year’s levels from January to March.
More Americans are returning to previous employers after two years of capitalizing on a tight labor market that made it easier to switch positions and boost benefits.
U.S. existing home sales fell for the sixth straight month in July and were down about 20% from a year ago. Meanwhile, the median selling price eased from June’s record of $413,800 and the average mortgage rate dropped from 5.22% to 5.13%.
Women made up 14.1% of the U.S. construction sector workforce in July, an all-time high amid persistent labor shortages.
The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index posted a surprise gain in August, rising by its fastest pace in four months.
Inflation has driven the cost of raising a child through age 17 to more than $310,000, up 9% from two years ago.
Hundreds of “zero-waste” stores selling mostly in bulk or with compostable packaging have opened around the U.S. since 2015, accommodating more Americans trying to cut back on plastic consumption.
International Markets
Last week, new COVID-19 cases globally fell 24% from the prior week to 5.4 million.
China’s COVID-19 cases surged to a three-month high of 3,424 Wednesday, largely concentrated in the southern island province of Hainan, which remains under lockdown.
Japan saw nearly 255,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, a record-high.
Euro zone inflation hit a fresh record of 8.9% year over year in July, driven largely by higher energy costs.
German producer prices were up 37.2% year over year in July, the highest rate on record.
Spain’s trade deficit widened almost sixfold in the first six months of the year to $32.6 billion, driven by higher oil and gas import prices.
Traders expect the Bank of England to more than double interest rates in the next nine months after inflation came in at a higher-than-expected 10.1% in July.
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