July 20, 2022 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

MH Daily Bulletin: July 20

News relevant to the plastics industry:

At M. Holland

  • M. Holland has launched a new Healthcare Packaging line card to help manufacturers solve industry challenges and meet regulatory and supply chain demands.
  • 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

  • Libya lifted force majeure and will resume some crude exports today following a weeks-long leadership shakeup at state-owned National Oil Company. 
  • Saudi officials say the nation is unable to boost production due to a lack of refining capacity rather than crude shortages. 
  • More oil news related to the war in Europe:
    • The EU announced a new plan to conserve energy, calling for member nations to cut natural gas use by 15% starting in August to save supplies for winter. 
    • Moscow says Russia will fulfill its commitments to supply natural gas to Europe but warned that flows via the Nord Stream pipeline could be curbed to just 20% next week if sanctions prevent additional maintenance on its components. Before maintenance, gas was flowing at about 40% of the pipeline’s capacity. 
    • Leaders of Germany’s massive chemicals industry say dwindling supplies of gas could force some firms to shut down in the coming months.
    • An abrupt cutoff in Russian gas shipments could shrink Europe’s economy by 2.65% this year, economists say. Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Italy would see the deepest recessions, the IMF warned. 
    • Russia is expanding its ties to Iran with a $40 billion pledge to develop more oil and gas fields in the nation. Russia is also set to build a new pipeline to China by 2024
    • Gazprom’s Singapore unit failed to deliver some LNG cargoes to Indian refiners and warned that it may not be able to meet long-term supply deals. 
  • Saudi Arabia’s crude exports are set to rise over 1 million bpd from June to July on a boost of shipments to China.
  • Western U.S. states have significantly more public land available for oil and gas leasing than for renewables development, new analysis shows. 

Supply Chain

Record-Breaking Heat in Europe
  • Container operations at the Port of Oakland ground to a near halt Tuesday as truckers protested a new California law that toughens rules for non-employee drivers. 
  • Labor activism is roiling British industries, with over 115,000 postal workers at the Royal Mail service voting to strike Tuesday and hundreds of dockworkers at a large port in Liverpool also threatening to strike.
  • South Korea’s government signaled it could intervene to break up a worker strike that halted operations at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering since last month. 
  • Throughput at the 10 largest U.S. container ports reached 2.16 million TEUs last month, a 5.9% increase from 2021 and a 26.9% increase from 2019. 
  • U.S. online retail sales are projected to grow 11.7% this year to nearly $1.1 trillion, according to FTI Consulting. 
  • New commercial ship orders plunged by over one-third in the first half of 2022 as costs rose, according to maritime analyst VesselsValue. 
  • A favorable legal agreement for Frontline and Euronav could make it easier to clear antitrust scrutiny in a rumored merger of the tanker giants.  
  • After acquiring two supply-chain startups last year, retailer American Eagle says its logistics operations could one day be bigger than its clothing business
  • Hasbro overcame high costs and freight expenses to post an 18% rise in second-quarter operating margins, while inventories surged 73% as the toy-maker built up holiday supplies early. 
  • Halliburton warned that new supply of fracking equipment won’t be available for the rest of the year due to parts shortages and supply snarls. 
  • Parts shortages could leave more Lockheed Martin fighter jets grounded for lengthy repairs, the U.S. government warned.
  • Boeing is receiving orders for its new 787 Dreamliner jets after inspection and production issues halted deliveries since May 2021. 
  • Parts shortages will delay normal shipments of Pratt & Whitney engines to Airbus until early next year, the engine-maker said. 
  • GlobalFoundries’ plan to build a computer chip factory in upstate New York could fall through if lawmakers fail to pass a $52 billion bill spurring domestic production. In a sign of progress, the Senate agreed to debate the bill on Tuesday. 
  • Japanese farming and construction-equipment-maker Kubota plans to spend $2 billion to build new factories in the U.S. and India as it works to shift production overseas. 
  • In the latest news from the auto industry:
    • Thousands of Hyundai workers in South Korea approved a new wage deal Tuesday, avoiding potential strike action. 
    • Volvo’s share of pure electric and hybrid vehicle sales rose sharply to 31% of total sales in the second quarter, even as overall unit sales fell by more than a quarter due to production and supply chain issues. 
    • Profit growth at U.S. car dealers likely lost momentum in the second quarter as the auto industry struggled to ramp up production due to parts shortages.
  • PepsiCo committed to spend $400 million annually on diverse supplier contracts. 
  • The mining sector’s drive toward automation could be worsening a skilled labor shortage that has already prevented large companies from running their most technologically advanced mines. 
  • Harvests in Romania, Europe’s biggest corn exporter, could slump substantially this year due to drought conditions, officials say. 

Domestic Markets

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International Markets

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