amr summary

37
The prices presented herein are strictly the opinion of CMAI and are based on information collected within the public sector and on assessments by CMAI staff. CMAI MAKES NO GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY AS TO THEIR USE. AROMATICS MARKET REPORT NORTH AMERICA SUMMARY March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 CONTENTS/LINKS PRICE FORECAST 2 CRUDE AND UPSTREAM 5 TOLUENE AND XYLENES 7 BENZENE 10 STYRENE 15 STYRENE DERIVATIVES 19 CYCLOHEXANE 20 CUMENE 22 PHENOL 24 PARAXYLENE 26 PTA 28 PET 30 ORTHOXYLENE 33 U.S. PRICE PAGE 34 W.E. PRICE PAGE 35 ASIA PRICE PAGE 36 Client Services Representative Stephanie Kirby - Aromatics [email protected] 1-(281)752-3258 Mollie Pampell - Aromatics [email protected] 1-(281)752-3260 INTERNET ACCESS www.cmaiglobal.com email - [email protected] CONSULTANTS Mark A. Fisler M[email protected]m Toluene/Mixed Xylenes R. Chase Willett [email protected] Paraxylene/Terephthalates/ Polyester/Orthoxylene Marc Laughlin [email protected] Cumene/Phenol/Acetone Simon Palmer [email protected] Benzene/Toluene/Mixed Xylenes Peter Feng [email protected] Styrene ©Copyright CMAI 2010 All Rights Reserved 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 Jan 21 Jan 28 Feb 4 Feb 11 Feb 18 Feb 25 Mar 4 Mar 11 Mar 18 Apr 10 May 10 Jun 10 Jul 10 Aug 10 Sep 10 Benzene & Derivatives Overview Benzene Spot Cumene Formula Phenol Wtd. Avg. Styrene Spot ~ Monthly Forecast Weekly History Dollars Per Metric Ton This report is for the exclusive use of the client company. Distribution outside of the client company is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI). The recent bearish influence of Asia on the U.S. BTX markets has been on a collision course with the seasonal support provided as domestic gasoline prices appreciate. In March we have seen the first minor skirmishes and thus far (and not unexpectedly) U.S. gasoline has arguably prevailed. Mar- gins over gasoline have predictably been squeezed and BTX prices are now on a more normal upward course. Despite domestic support, the track re- mains somewhat subdued as the derivative export markets lack the whole- sale confidence necessary to sustain the cost-push and regain some mar- gin. High domestic olefins prices are also making the job of exporting derivatives much more challenging but there are signs that prices may be moderating slightly which should provide support some pick up in rates. 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 Jan 21 Jan 28 Feb 4 Feb 11 Feb 18 Feb 25 Mar 4 Mar 11 Mar 18 Apr 10 May 10 Jun 10 Jul 10 Aug 10 Sep 10 Toluene Blend Value Toluene Spot Nit. MX Spot PX Spot ~ Monthly Forecast Weekly History Paraxylene & Upstream Overview Dollars Per Metric Ton

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Page 1: AMR Summary

The prices presented herein are strictly the opinion of CMAI and are based on information collected within the public sector and on assessments by CMAI staff. CMAI MAKES NO GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY AS TO THEIR USE.

AROMATICS MARKET REPORT NORTH AMERICA

SUMMARYMarch 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308

CONTENTS/LINKSPRICE FORECAST 2CRUDE AND UPSTREAM 5TOLUENE AND XYLENES 7BENZENE 10STYRENE 15STYRENE DERIVATIVES 19CYCLOHEXANE 20CUMENE 22PHENOL 24PARAXYLENE 26PTA 28PET 30ORTHOXYLENE 33U.S. PRICE PAGE 34W.E. PRICE PAGE 35ASIA PRICE PAGE 36

Client Services RepresentativeStephanie Kirby - Aromatics

[email protected](281)752-3258

Mollie Pampell - [email protected]

1-(281)752-3260

INTERNET ACCESSwww.cmaiglobal.com

email - [email protected]

CONSULTANTSMark A. [email protected]/Mixed Xylenes

R. Chase [email protected]/Terephthalates/Polyester/Orthoxylene

Marc [email protected]/Phenol/Acetone

Simon [email protected]/Toluene/Mixed Xylenes

Peter [email protected]

©Copyright CMAI 2010All Rights Reserved

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

Jan21

Jan28

Feb4

Feb11

Feb18

Feb25

Mar4

Mar11

Mar18

Apr10

May10

Jun10

Jul10

Aug10

Sep10

Benzene & Derivatives Overview

Benzene Spot Cumene Formula Phenol Wtd. Avg. Styrene Spot

~

Monthly ForecastWeekly History

Dollars Per Metric Ton

This report is for the exclusive use of the client company. Distribution outside of the client company is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI).

This report is for the exclusive use of the client company. Distribution outside of the client company is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI).

The recent bearish influence of Asia on the U.S. BTX markets has been on a collision course with the seasonal support provided as domestic gasoline prices appreciate. In March we have seen the first minor skirmishes and thus far (and not unexpectedly) U.S. gasoline has arguably prevailed. Mar-gins over gasoline have predictably been squeezed and BTX prices are now on a more normal upward course. Despite domestic support, the track re-mains somewhat subdued as the derivative export markets lack the whole-sale confidence necessary to sustain the cost-push and regain some mar-gin. High domestic olefins prices are also making the job of exporting derivatives much more challenging but there are signs that prices may be moderating slightly which should provide support some pick up in rates.

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

Jan21

Jan28

Feb4

Feb11

Feb18

Feb25

Mar4

Mar11

Mar18

Apr10

May10

Jun10

Jul10

Aug10

Sep10

Toluene Blend Value Toluene Spot Nit.MX Spot PX Spot ~

Monthly ForecastWeekly History

Paraxylene & Upstream OverviewDollars Per Metric Ton

Page 2: AMR Summary

North America Aromatics Market Report

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 2

PRICE FORECAST

Natural Gas

$/MMBTUNotes Deliv. USGC

09 Nov 4.4Dec 4.6

10 Jan 5.9Feb 5.4Mar 4.9

09 Q2 3.5Q3 3.4Q4 4.3

10 Q1 5.4

NEA W Europe NEA U.S. W Europe NEAContract Spot Spot Spot Spot Spot Spot Spot SpotCts/Gal Cts/Gal $/t $/t $/t $/t Cts/Gal $/t $/t

Notes FOB USGC FOB USGC FOB/CIF WE FOB S. KOREA Nitration FOB S. KOREA FOB Houston, TX FOB Rotterdam FOB S. KOREA

09 Nov 285.0 286.8 831.0 861.8 773.0 806.6 256.9 781.0 846.3Dec 298.0 322.5 953.0 960.2 814.0 873.7 283.0 830.0 896.5

10 Jan 355.0 373.5 1091.8 1040.6 880.6 930.7 303.8 878.0 943.8Feb 369.0 352.3 1007.0 945.0 844.0 862.2 277.1 860.0 861.9Mar 343.0 329.0 995.0 890.0 822.0 843.0 285.0 831.0 869.7

09 Q2 197.7 226.8 687.1 661.6 642.3 660.7 226.6 743.7 750.5Q3 312.0 313.9 895.0 815.1 751.3 768.0 245.8 813.0 813.1Q4 281.0 294.4 870.7 860.8 777.3 805.5 258.9 783.7 835.7

10 Q1 355.7 351.6 1031.3 958.5 848.9 878.6 288.6 856.3 891.8

PhenolUS

Delta Monthly Contract Spot ContractCts/Gal Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb

Notes to Benzene Avg Acq. FOB US FOB USGC High Heat

09 Nov -11.4 48.12 54.50 45.25 99.00Dec -12.5 50.03 58.75 51.34 99.00

10 Jan -15.3 59.05 67.00 59.00 106.50Feb -20.4 60.96 68.25 59.19 114.00Mar -19.0 60.96 68.25 59.11 113.00

09 Q2 -0.4 36.15 46.33 39.42 85.33Q3 -20.9 51.49 56.42 48.58 97.33Q4 -11.4 47.58 55.33 47.05 98.00

10 Q1 -18.2 59.28 67.83 59.10 111.17

PTA DMTNEA US US

Contract Spot Spot Contract Contract Contract SpotCts/lb Cts/lb $/t Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb

Notes Delivered FOB USGC C&F / NE Asia Formula Delivered Monthly FOB US

09 Nov 47.25 42.72 1005.0 44.17 48.51 42.00 0.00Dec 52.25 48.72 1105.0 47.52 51.77 44.00 0.00Jan 53.75 46.68 1135.0 48.82 53.33 48.00 0.00

10 Feb 52.00 45.10 1100.0 47.65 52.33 47.00 0.00Mar 50.50 44.53 1065.0 46.65 51.44 47.00 0.00

09 Q2 47.83 45.09 1005.0 44.06 45.70 37.50 0.00Q3 49.83 43.73 1058.3 45.47 47.92 40.00 0.00Q4 47.08 43.15 998.3 44.05 48.44 41.17 0.00

10 Q1 52.08 45.44 1100.0 47.71 52.37 47.33 0.00

General Notes: see page 4 unsettled The decision to publish or not to publish is solely at the discretion of CMAI staff.

207.7202.2224.0

179.2189.0198.2

1.431.381.36

181.0190.6

213.2

SpotCts/GalNitration

448.3

254.7272.5290.2273.2

Monthly FOB/CIF WE

547.0

658.7540.7741.0

723.0741.0

570.0759.0

74.5080.75

Contract€/t

Spot$/t

60.71

200.0195.4

193.0189.3

United StatesTolueneCts/Galblend value

228.2218.2

North AmericaGasoline Spot Average

Cts/Gal Cts/GalPremium FOB USGC Regular FOB USGC

Exchange Rate

$/€

1.491.46

231.0224.7255.4

W Europe

52.70

43.0146.5051.77

MonthlyCts/LbFormula

US

43.76

55.39

53.29

45.56

benzene Toluene

68.2167.2

237.0

Polystyrene

76.278.6

Net Industry AvgUS

210.8214.4226.4

Current PricesAssumptions

WTI

214.5

187.2188.4197.9

170.1185.5199.8

Naphtha

193.2208.2

153.0

Cts/GalFOB USGC

spot average

W Europe

211.31.481.39

Mixed xylenes

1.361.43

51.83

USContract

Cts/lbFOB Frt Eq

49.5054.00

USParaxylene

US

76.58

56.0079.7581.25

Cts/lbDelivered

PET Orthoxylene PAN

Delivered

Contract Avg.

81.25

73.00

73.7576.75

60.0059.00

47.17

Spot

59.15 71.00

US

Cts/LbHigh Heat

61.7563.00

78.0076.00

52.32

47.2760.18

61.5275.00

60.69

37.4761.80

US

48.48

51.8358.33

Crude Oil$/bbl

78.074.578.376.581.0

59.5

203.9

201.6196.9

46.56

279.8

250.1258.0

Cts/Lb

276.0

US

50.68

Styrene

285.5339.7

337.4

1004.0

933.01031.01063.0

931.31022.3

US

1000.0

949.0918.7

ContractCts/Gal

FOB USGC

273.6

US

324.0

197.2291.1

29.49

Cyclohexane

348.6

269.6

Cumene

Page 3: AMR Summary

North America Aromatics Market Report

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 3

PRICE FORECAST

Naphtha Natural Gas$/bbl $/bbl Cts/Gal $/MMBTU

Notes WTI Dubai Spot Avg.FOB USGC Deliv. USGC

10 Q1 78.6 75.7 199.8 5.4Q2 79.2 76.4 198.6 4.4Q3 79.2 75.9 195.9 4.2Q4 78.9 75.4 192.4 4.8

11 Q1 79.3 76.0 190.1 5.4Q2 80.2 77.0 186.4 5.5

99.5 93.4 238.6 9.061.7 61.7 156.0 4.079.0 75.9 196.7 4.780.4 77.0 190.8 5.5

PygasContract Spot Cash Cost Cash Cost Cash Cost Contract Hydrogen Cash CostCts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/Gal $/t Cts/lb

Notes FOB USGC FOB USGC 6 7 8 Formula 9 10

10 Apr 332.0 337.0 378.6 311.2 298.6 301.6 1082.5 49.46May 340.0 343.0 380.1 313.4 294.5 309.5 1064.1 50.62Jun 345.0 342.0 372.6 312.3 286.2 313.4 1055.0 51.61Jul 340.0 333.0 361.7 310.8 271.9 315.9 1018.3 51.01Aug 330.0 324.0 342.8 295.2 260.1 305.1 1009.1 49.91Sep 321.0 324.0 337.8 290.6 252.8 300.7 999.9 48.83

357.3 345.1 369.5 363.6 296.3 351.8 1738.2 57.13228.1 240.0 268.1 257.9 153.6 224.3 826.5 34.45334.8 332.4 352.1 297.3 276.3 312.3 1056.1 50.53320.2 319.8 342.5 297.1 268.3 306.8 1193.8 50.06

Spot Cash Cost Contract Cash Cost Contract Cash CostCts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb

Notes FOB USGC 11 FOB USGC 12 High Heat 13

10 Apr 291.0 269.7 65.00 53.78 108.00 65.81May 292.0 272.9 64.00 53.50 107.00 65.79Jun 287.0 272.9 63.00 52.77 84.00 64.81Jul 277.0 266.3 62.00 51.29 83.00 63.83Aug 279.0 254.0 61.00 49.96 82.00 62.85Sep 286.0 246.7 61.00 50.25 82.00 62.84

311.9 319.6 73.15 59.81 108.63 73.62231.2 217.0 49.63 36.81 89.67 49.62283.0 255.3 63.79 52.96 93.96 65.30278.7 255.0 62.00 51.10 83.50 64.17

General Notes: see page 4 The decision to publish or not to publish is solely at the discretion of CMAI staff.

FOB USGC

56.2155.93 71.00

67.0066.0065.0065.0079.3055.3769.2566.42

241.4225.8234.3249.5

Toluene Blend ValueCts/Gal

237.0257.0

Crude Oil

207.41.3191.2891.277

296.7203.2240.3238.5

221.0278.3275.3

1.4641.3901.3591.271

63.2441.4755.55

213.1 204.7211.2

55.2054.0053.0053.00

Cts/lb

Assumptions

United States Price Forecast - benzene and Derivatives

benzene HDA Cyclohexane

Cts/GalPremium FOB USGC

Cts/GalRegular FOB USGC

Gasoline

211.3223.8214.4202.8

217.2260.4174.7

Exchange Rates$/€

1.3901.3641.364

Spot

Toluene

Cts/GalNitration

203.9211.3205.7197.7

202.7

199.9204.9248.7165.1

307.2220.8276.8269.6

283.0285.0285.0281.0275.0272.0

Spot

Mixed xylenes

287.0288.0

ContractCts/Gal

FOB Houston, TX

281.0

Styrene

53.42

275.0303.5

283.0273.0

PolystyreneSpot

Cts/lbHigh Heat

72.00

56.6156.32

64.1540.44

2008200920102011

2008200920102011

PhenolAvg. Acq.

Cts/lb

56.1357.2257.8957.2155.8954.70

20102011

20082009

Page 4: AMR Summary

North America Aromatics Market Report

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 4

PRICE FORECAST

Natural Gas Exchange Rates$/bbl $/bbl $/MMBTU $/€

Notes WTI Dubai Deliv. USGC

10 Q1 78.6 75.7 5.4 1.390Q2 79.2 76.4 4.4 1.364Q3 79.2 75.9 4.2 1.364Q4 78.9 75.4 4.8 1.319

11 Q1 79.3 76.0 5.4 1.289Q2 80.2 77.0 5.5 1.277

99.5 93.4 9.0 1.46461.7 61.7 4.0 1.39079.0 75.9 4.7 1.35980.4 77.0 5.5 1.271

Contract Margin Contract Margin Contract Cash Cost Contract Cash Cost Contract Delta Contract MarginCts/Gal Cts/Gal Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb Cts/lb

Notes FOB Houston, TX 11 14 FOB OXE/Mkt xylenes

10 Apr 281.0 16.8 52.00 0.31 47.98 39.78 82.75 63.66 48.00 9.22 48.53 13.53May 287.0 19.6 54.25 1.43 49.49 41.10 80.75 62.97 48.50 8.89 40.37 9.15Jun 288.0 20.5 56.50 3.35 51.00 42.40 80.50 62.93 49.00 9.25 37.19 7.33Jul 283.0 22.1 54.00 1.84 49.32 40.82 77.75 60.68 48.00 8.94 33.57 8.21Aug 273.0 24.4 52.00 1.58 47.98 39.58 76.25 59.60 47.00 9.32 33.57 8.44Sep 275.0 33.6 49.50 -1.08 46.31 38.04 75.00 58.29 47.00 9.05 34.47 7.29

303.5 -8.2 57.88 0.56 52.70 45.58 87.23 73.63 51.13 9.24 53.34 19.76221.0 9.3 45.83 3.14 43.11 35.74 72.81 55.75 37.92 7.42 31.68 11.41278.3 28.6 52.02 0.63 47.92 39.87 78.27 61.40 47.42 9.02 39.12 9.62275.3 26.5 52.92 1.29 48.61 40.94 76.63 61.67 47.04 9.04 35.91 9.01

General Notes:1. All contract prices are on a delivered basis before discounts.2. CMAI does not normally publish contract prices when discussions are actively in progress.3. Prices relate to North American markets.4. Since Q1 2006, the OX quarterly price is the average of the three monthly prices.5. Highlighted prices indicate those that have not yet settled as of the time of writing and are therefore subject to change.6. HDA Cash Cost with Toluene at Chemical7. HDA Cash Cost with Toluene at Blend Value8. Pygas cash costs with Raffinate at Market.9. Cash cost of hydrogen production based on steam reforming of natural gas.

10. Phenol cash cost is based on non-integrated business.11. Mixed Xylenes cash cost calculated on extraction basis.12. Styrene cash cost based on conventional EB / SM technology13. Polystyrene Cash Cost is for High Heat Crystal on a delivered basis.14. Paraxylene margin is on a pre-tax, nonintegrated basis 15. MEG margin is for fibre grade, contract sales on an non-integrated basis 16. Margins are on a cash cost before tax basis

These price forecasts are stricly the opinion of the staff of CMAI, and are based on information in the public sector. CMAI makes no warantee or guarantee as to their use. CMAI does not normally publish price forecasts when discussions are in progress. The decision to publish or not to publish is solely at the discretion of CMAI personnel.

199.8198.6

Orthoxylene MEgMixed xylenes Paraxylene PTA PET

195.9192.4

196.7190.8

213.1211.2

204.7

296.7203.2240.3238.5

190.1186.4238.6156.0

249.5217.2260.4

204.9248.7165.1

Toluene Blend Value

Based on 91 and 95 RON gasoline

United States Price Forecast - xylenes and DerivativesAssumptions

GasolineCrude Oil NaphthaCts/Gal

Spot Avg. FOB USGC

Cts/Gal Cts/GalPremium FOB USGC Regular FOB USGC

Cts/Gal

211.3223.8214.4202.8207.4

237.0257.0241.4225.8234.3

203.9211.3205.7197.7199.9

2008200920102011

174.7

202.7

2008200920102011

Page 5: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 5

CRUDE AND UPSTREAMNorth America Aromatics Market Report

NYMEX CRUDE OIL 18-Feb-10 25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10Current Month $/bbl 77.39 79.68 80.84 82.00 82.29

cts/gal 184.27 189.72 192.48 195.24 195.93US$/MT 530.22 545.91 553.86 561.81 563.80

North America

245

265

285

305

325

345

365

385

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Week-Ending Crude Oil Stocks

Five-Year Range 2008 2009 2010

-000,000- Barrels For Week Ending: March 12, 2010

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA)

~

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

U.S. Refinery Throughput

5-Year Range 2008 2009 2010

-000,000- Barrels Per Day

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA) ~

For Week Ending: March 12, 2010

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Jan-2008 Jul-2008 Jan-2009 Jul-2009 Jan-2010 Jul-2010 Jan-2011 Jul-2011

U.S. Naphtha Cracking Margins

Ethylene Margin from Naphtha Naphtha Delta to Unleaded Regular

Forecast

Cents Per Pound

~Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI

NAPHTHA February Average March Average REFORMATE February Average March AveragePrice US$/MT 685.96 739.26 Price US$/MT 739.35 802.00Delta US$/MT + 53.30 (+7.77%) Delta US$/MT + 62.65 (+8.47%)

North America

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

February-10 June-10 October-10 February-11

NYMEX WTI Crude Oil Strip

CMAI ForecastMarch Contract ExpirationFebruary Contract Expiration

Dollars Per Barrel

Sources: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Purvin & Gertz

~

-25

0

25

50

75

100

125

Jan-2006 Jan-2007 Jan-2008 Jan-2009 Jan-2010 Jan-2011

USGC Naphtha and Reformate Differentials

Naphtha over WTI Crude 100 RON Reformate over Naphtha

Forecast

Cents Per Gallon

~Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10 Jan-11

U.S. Crude and Crack Spreads

WTI 3/2/1 Crack

Forecast

Cents Per Gallon

~Source: Purvin & Gertz

Page 6: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 6

CRUDE AND UPSTREAMNorth America Aromatics Market ReportGASOLINE 18-Feb-10 25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10Reg. Unleaded cts/gal 192.87 206.95 206.56 216.02 215.56

US$/MT 684.68 734.65 733.27 766.89 765.24Prem. Unleaded cts/gal 197.28 212.06 218.21 226.22 225.68

US$/MT 692.44 744.31 765.90 794.05 792.12

North America

175

185

195

205

215

225

235

245

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

U.S. Motor Gasoline Inventory

Five-Year Range 2008 2009 2010

-000,000- Barrels For Week Ending: March 12, 2010

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA)

~

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

U.S. Motor Gasoline Production

Five-Year Range 2008 2009 2010

-000,000- Barrels Per Day For Week Ending: March 12, 2010(Four-Week Moving Average)

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA)

~

80

120

160

200

240

280

320

360

400

440

Jan-05 Jul-05 Jan-06 Jul-06 Jan-07 Jul-07 Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10

Cents Per Gallon

NYMEX USGC CASH

~

U.S. Daily Gasoline Price History 2005-2010

143

155

167

179

190

202

214

226

238

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

Sep-2009 Dec-2009 Mar-2010 Jun-2010 Sep-2010

U.S. Crude and Gasoline Prices

WTI Crude Oil RUL Gasoline

PUL Gasoline

Cents Per Gallon

Source: Purvin and Gertz

Forecast

Dollars Per Barrel

0

7

14

21

29

36

0

3

6

9

12

15

RUL Gasoline to WTI Crude Oil SpreadPUL Gasoline to RUL Gasoline Spread ~

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

10.0

January April July OctoberGasoline, 5-Year Range Distillate, 5-Year RangeGasoline, 2009 Gasoline, 2010Distillate, 2009 Distillate, 2010

Implied Demand, U.S. Refined Products-000,000- Barrels

Per Day (Gasoline)-000,000- BarrelsPer Day (Distillate)

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA)

~

For Week Ending: March 12, 2010

140

160

180

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

Sep-2009 Dec-2009 Mar-2010 Jun-2010 Sep-2010

USGC Naphtha to BTX Spreads

Naphtha Prices Reformate PricesWeight-Average BTX Prices

Cents Per Gallon

Forecast

~

Page 7: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 7

TOLUENE AND XYLENESNorth America Aromatics Market Report

SPOT TOLUENE 18-Feb-10 25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10Current Month cts/gal 269.63 - 274.00 277.80 - 284.30 n 273.20 - 276.30 269.90 - 273.40 273.00 - 276.00March US$/MT 818.8 - 832.0 843.6 - 863.3 n 829.6 - 839.0 819.6 - 830.2 829.0 - 838.1Following Month cts/gal - - 274.50 - 279.40 272.00 - 275.50 274.20 - 277.50April US$/MT 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 - 0.0 833.6 - 848.4 826.0 - 836.6 832.6 - 842.7SPOT MIXED XYLENECurrent Month cts/gal 271.00 - 278.63 279.20 - 284.30 271.00 - 275.90 270.80 - 273.60 272.90 - 277.10March US$/MT 824.5 - 847.7 849.5 - 865.0 824.5 - 839.4 823.9 - 832.4 830.3 - 843.1Following Month cts/gal - - 271.90 - 277.30 n 273.50 - 273.50 275.00 - 278.90April US$/MT - - 827.3 - 843.7 n 832.1 - 832.1 836.7 - 848.6

North America

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

Jan-07 May-07 Sep-07 Jan-08 May-08 Sep-08 Jan-09 May-09 Sep-09 Jan-10

Toluene Regional Pricing 2007-2010

USG WEP NEA

U.S. Dollars Per Metric Ton

~

80

120

160

200

240

280

320

360

400

440

480

520

Jan-08 Apr-08 Jul-08 Oct-08 Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10

MXY Spot MXY CP MX Blend Value

U.S. Gulf Coast Mixed Xylene Daily Pricing Versus MOGAS Blend Value 2008-2010

Cents Per Gallon

~

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

TOL MXY ~

North America Toluene and Mixed Xylene ProductionCapacity Losses 2010

PRICES AND SPREADS

• Seasonal trends have begun to take shape in toluene and xylenes markets over the course of March. While prices stagnated for most this month, energy surged ahead, with WTI crude oil gaining six percent so far on February prices and RBOB gasoline prices gaining thirteen percent. This has had the effect of considerably redcucing the margins that producers had from extracting aromatics out of reformate. As prices for gasoline have increased, blend values for aromatics have gone up noticeably, though, trending very seasonally. CMAI’s Benchmark Toluene Blend Value price has matched gasoline’s increase of thirteen percent month-to-date.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

M-09 A-09 M-09 J-09 J-09 A-09 S-09 O-09 N-09 D-09 J-10 F-10 M-10

USGC Spot Toluene and Mixed Xylenes Volumes, 2009-2010

Toluene, Nitration-Grade Toluene, Commercial-GradeMixed Xylenes, Spot ~

-000- Barrels

* Volumes for March are on a month-to-date basis.

Page 8: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 8

TOLUENE AND XYLENESNorth America Aromatics Market Report

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

3/5/2009 5/14/2009 7/23/2009 10/1/2009 12/10/2009 2/18/2010

Toluene Spread over Octane

DeltaToluene, Spot, FOB USGCToluene, Octane ~

Cents Per Gallon (Prices) Cents Per Gallon (Delta)

-200

-150

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

200

-120

-90

-60

-30

0

30

60

90

120

Jan-08 Apr-08 Jul-08 Oct-08 Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10

U.S. Toluene Trade

Other W. Europe Asia Delta: Asia Spot - U.S. Spot

Thousand Metric Tons

~

Dollars Per Metric TonJanuary 2008 - January 2010

Exports

Imports-100

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Jan-08 Apr-08 Jul-08 Oct-08 Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10

U.S. Mixed Xylenes Trade

Other W. Europe Asia Delta: Asia Spot - U.S. Contract

Thousand Metric Tons

~

Dollars Per Metric TonJanuary 2008 - January 2010

Exports

Imports

-12

0

12

24

36

48

60

72

-60

0

60

120

180

240

300

360

10/15/2009 11/12/2009 12/10/2009 1/7/2010 2/4/2010 3/4/2010

Toluene Spot PriceAlternative Toluene Value (STDP)STDP Margin ~

STDP Economics - Alternative Toluene ValuesCents Per Gallon (Prices) Cents Per Gallon (Margins)

SUPPLY/DEMAND ECONOMICS AND SPOT MARKETS

• On the supply side, turnaround season for many aro-matics producers looks to be windling down as the amount of downed capacity as compared to February is off significantly. While the potential for more output is there, production levels really haven’t increased to a great extent. Reforming margins are still well in the red, as octane is still considerably undervalued the relative to its cost. As well, the light-end byproducts coming off of the reformer, such as hydrogen and fuel gas, are decreasing in value as natural gas prices come off. Even with restrained volumes coming out of reformers, demand seems to be low enough for prices suppressed. As mentioned earlier, spreads between spot toluene prices and blend value have tightened to lows not seen since last June. This is due in part to ben-zene and mixed xylene price movements, which have shown weakness for the better part of the month and have subsequently hit toluene conversion margins quite hard.

• Xylenes present much the same picture; while potential supply sources seem to be up from February, operat-ing rates have corrected downward in response as overall demand does not seem to be pushing prices upward. While increasing so far in March, spot paraxylene prices are really only keeping up with the increases in naphtha prices. Current xylenes-to-paraxylene spreads March have increased to over $150 per ton from lower levels in late February / early March; however, spreads from naphtha-to-xylenes have tightened to around $75 per ton.

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

-400

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

3/5/2009 5/14/2009 7/23/2009 10/1/2009 12/10/2009 2/18/2010

Mixed Xylenes Spreads Between the U.S. and Asia

DeltaMixed Xylenes, Spot, FOB USGCMixed Xylenes, Spot, FOB SKOR ~

Dollars Per Metric Ton

Page 9: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 9

TOLUENE AND XYLENESNorth America Aromatics Market Report

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10 Jul-10 Jan-11 Jul-11

Cents Per Gallon

U.S. Toluene and Mixed Xylenes Price Forecast

Toluene Nitration Spot Mixed Xylenes Contract

Forecast

~

0102030405060708090

100

Jan-2008 Jan-2009 Jan-2010 Jan-2011

U.S. Toluene and Mixed Xylenes Spreads, Forecast Period

UL Regular over UL Premium100RON Reformate over UL PremiumT/X Blend Value over ReformateBlend ValueToluene over T/X Blend ValueMixed Xylenes over T/X Blend Value

Forecast

Cents Per Gallon

~

Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI

2010 North America Toluene Operating Schedule(000 Metric Tons) Annual Capacity

Capacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecNorth American Capacity 7,584 644 582 644 623 644 623 644 644 623 644 623 644 North American Capacity Lost 238 44 23 29 19 33 12 13 15 12 13 12 13 North American Capacity Lost: Others/Estimates 58 - 52 5 1 - - - - - - - - North American % Capacity Lost 4% 7% 13% 5% 3% 5% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2%

2010 North America Mixed Xylenes Operating Schedule(000 Metric Tons)

Capacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecNorth American Capacity 10,641 904 816 904 875 904 875 904 904 875 904 875 904North American Capacity Lost 356 58 22 84 20 36 17 18 18 17 24 25 18North American % Capacity Lost 8.6% 8% 13% 10% 8% 10% 8% 8% 8% 8% 8% 9% 8%

• On the subject of trade, anticipating higher prices as gasoline season commences in the U.S, Asian buyers were out in full-force in January. Even though prices were level at times between the U.S. and Asia, volumes on the order of 100 kT of material moved from the U.S. to Asia. This pattern of trade, with large volumes moving despite low price discrepancies between the regions, could catch on in the early months of the year as gasoline continues to increase and xylenes prices are relatively cheap.

PRICE FORECAST

• With the arrival of gasoline season, traditional rela-tionships to energy are beginning to become more pronounced. While both toluene and xylenes prices look to appreciate on the back of gasoline, spreads to naphtha and gasoline will remain at compressed levels throughout the better part of the summer months. Xylenes should hold a small premium to toluene prices in the near months as material continues to move to Asia.

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

3/5/2009 5/14/2009 7/23/2009 10/1/2009 12/10/2009 2/18/2010

Paraxylene Spreads to Mixed Xylenes and Naphtha

Xylenes Spread over Naphtha Paraxylene Spread over XylenesNaphtha Mixed Xylenes, SpotParaxylene, Spot

~

Dollars Per Metric Ton

Page 10: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 10

BENZENENorth America Aromatics Market ReportSPOT BENZENE 18-Feb-10 25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10Current Month cts/gal 331.50 - 342.88 339.70 - 348.40 322.20 - 329.70 321.90 - 326.00 326.40 - 327.60March US$/MT 992.3 - 1026.4 1016.8 - 1042.9 964.5 - 986.9 963.6 - 975.8 977.0 - 980.6Following Month cts/gal - - 312.20 - 315.60 313.00 - 317.70 323.60 - 326.70April US$/MT - - 934.5 - 944.7 936.9 - 951.0 968.6 - 977.9n = notional posting

North America

MARKET SUMMARY

PRICES

• The benzene contract price for March settled at $3.43 per gallon ($1027 per metric ton) a de-crease of $0.26 per gallon ($78 per metric ton). After reaching a short term peak in February 2010, the contract benzene price has been back-wardated, suggesting a lower April contract price settlement. It was poised to reach a short term bottom in April but a recent spike in benzene prices in Europe may derail this forecast. The combination of a relatively strong crude price, low inventories and seasonal improvement in demand may keep benzene prices from falling much anyways.

MARgINS AND INCENTIvES

• The benzene/naphtha differential has improved this year as benzene prices have pushed upwards beyond the increase in naphtha. In the short term, production outages will drive supply but eventually improved incentives should result in increased benzene production in other parts of the world. Indeed the spread may grow even more in the short term as naphtha appears to be weakening while benzene is strengthening.

SPOT MARKET

• The character of the spot market has changed significantly from the beginning of the month. At that time, arriving imports and weak derivative demand depressed the market and spot prices fell into the low $3.00 range. Inventories were pulled down in anticipation of lower prices. Recently a spike in Europe has caused spot prices to move steadily higher. Spot benzene prices are trad-ing at near parity to the March contract price. Operational events tend to be short lived but the proximity to the end of the month may impact the April contract price settlement.

0

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300

350

400

450

500

Jan-2005 Jan-2006 Jan-2007 Jan-2008 Jan-2009 Jan-2010

Benzene & BTX Mix Pricing, Recent History

BTX Mix Value Benzene over BTX Mix

Cents Per Gallon

~Source: CMAI

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10

Benzene Spread Over Naphtha, Recent History

~

Cents Per Gallon

Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

J-09 F-09 M-09 A-09 M-09 J-09 J-09 A-09 S-09 O-09 N-09 D-09 J-10 F-10

USGC Spot Benzene Volumes 2009-2010Millions Of Barrels

~

Page 11: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 11

BENZENENorth America Aromatics Market Report2010 North America Benzene Operating Schedule

(000 Metric Tons) Annual CapacityCapacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

North American Capacity 10,241 870 786 870 842 870 842 870 870 842 870 842 870 North American Capacity Lost 612 101 78 73 51 49 44 37 37 35 37 35 37 North American Capacity Lost: Others/Estimates 507 55 99 63 32 33 32 33 33 32 33 32 33 North American % Capacity Lost 11% 18% 23% 16% 10% 9% 9% 8% 8% 8% 8% 8% 8%

SUPPLY OUTLOOK

FEEDSTOCKS AND COSTS

• Crude oil futures are currently near $82 per barrel and close to the top of the trading range. This has remained fairly constant since last month but in North America, refinery op-erations remain low and the flattened forward curve has market participants pulling in float-ing stocks of crude oil. On the other hand, we will begin the transition into driving season and the outlook for an economic recovery is bullish however we do not believe the global economic markets are strong enough for crude oil to break out of the trading range to new highs.

OPERATIONS

• Public filings confirm the expected return of the CCR and aromatics recovery operations at Flint Hills Resources West Plant in Corpus Christi, TX following the recent maintenance turnaround. There was a slight delay affect-ing the MSTDP but this seems to have been overcome. On the steam crackers, operations remain restrained by both scheduled mainte-nance and unplanned interruptions. Olefins supply remains constrained although there has been some relaxation in spot prices, at least on ethylene. Pygas make remains a mix of slightly heavier feed slates but with the aforementioned operational constraints. Pygas off-take for extraction has been nice and steady.

IMPORTS

• The long supply chain from Asia continues drive volatility. Beginning in the month, the long shadow of continued imports arriving from Asia, caused spot prices to fall but just recently a spike in European benzene prices has pulled the North American spot prices up. With the incremental benzene supply in Asia, relief is a long ways away and now more imports are needed, not less. History suggests that operational issues do not last long and market participants are wary that imports will arrive as supply improves.

-500

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-100

0

100

200

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Dec-07 Mar-08 Jun-08 Sep-08 Dec-08 Mar-09 Jun-09 Sep-09 Dec-09

U.S. Benzene Imports, Recent History

Other W. Europe Asia Delta: Asia Spot - U.S. Contract

Thousand Metric Tons

~

Dollars Per Metric Ton

0.00.20.40.60.81.01.21.41.61.82.0

Q1-08 Q3-08 Q1-09 Q3-09 Q1-10 Q3-10 Q1-11 Q3-11

U.S. Benzene Production Outlook

Reformate Pygas THDA TDP PXE Coke Oven~

Million Metric Tons

Page 12: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 12

BENZENENorth America Aromatics Market ReportMarch 2010 U.S. bENZENE AND MAJOR DERIvATIvES

* Includes listed and balance of dom. dmd. bENZENE Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10

Total demand includes exports. Million Gallons Styrene Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10All products in million pounds except benzene. Production 419 367 377

Imports 95 137 138 Production 2057 2156 2087Domestic Demand * 500 520 514 NMPLT. Op. Rate 75% 77% 74%Inventory 126 110 109 Imports 325 300 300

Domestic Dmd. * 1637 1766 1667Cyclohexane Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 Cumene Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 Exports 745 690 720

Total Demand 2382 2456 2387Production 553 548 556 Production 1448 1404 1420 Inventory 395 395 395NMPLT. Op. Rate 66% 65% 65% NMPLT. Op. Rate 60% 58% 58%Imports 66 66 66 Imports 0 0 0 (PS, EPS, & ABS includes Canada)Domestic Dmd. * 509 515 523 Domestic Dmd. * 1398 1314 1335 Polystyrene Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10Exports 110 99 99 Exports 50 90 85Total Demand 619 615 622 Total Demand 1448 1404 1420 Production 996 1085 992

Inventory 243 243 243 Op. Rate 77% 83% 75%Total Demand 1027 1131 1023

Adipic Acid Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 Phenol Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 EPS Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10

Production 342 343 345 Production 1066 1033 1045 Production 151 181 190NMPLT. Op. Rate 51% 51% 52% NMPLT. Op. Rate 72% 69% 69% Op. Rate 66% 78% 80%Total Demand 355 356 358 Total Demand 1067 1035 1046 Total Demand 186 209 211

Caprolactam Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 AbS/SAN/Other Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10% of benzene dmd. Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10

Production 466 472 478 Styrene 45% 47% 44% Production 411 409 413NMPLT. Op. Rate 83% 84% 85% Cumene 27% 26% 26% Op. Rate 63% 62% 62%Total Demand 467 473 479 Cyclohexane 14% 13% 13% Total Demand 502 497 493

DEMAND OUTLOOK

DERIvATIvE OPERATIONS

• Benzene derivative operations weakened in March but the high price of benzene is not the main culprit this time. The tight ethylene supply demand balance has limited ethylene availability and has pushed ethylene spot prices to short term highs. This has limited styrene production and has pushed benzene back into the market. The propylene situation has not been as severe but propylene prices are also high. The ethylene situation is now rapidly improving but styrene turnarounds will limit styrene production in April. Operationally, other than Dow’s force majeure declaration on phenol recently, plants are running well. Dow’s discovery of a broken heat exchanger during their turnaround is expected to extend their outage by approximately a month.

NETbACKS AND DEMAND

• A seasonal lift in domestic demand is expected to arrive in parallel with the emergence of spring across the continent. Construction activities are expected to start but derivative and downstream producers continue to remain cautious and are keeping inventories limited. The high spot ethylene prices have pushed

0

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Jan-05 Jul-05 Jan-06 Jul-06 Jan-07 Jul-07 Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10

U.S. Benzene Netback Values

Benzene

Contract SM

Spot SM

Cumene, Formula

Phenol, Wt Avg

Cents Per Gallon

~

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

Feb-08 May-08 Aug-08 Nov-08 Feb-09 May-09 Aug-09 Nov-09

BZE EB/SM CUM/PHL CHX/Int Others

Thousand Metric Tons

USA Net Exports as Benzene Equivalent

~

Page 13: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 13

BENZENENorth America Aromatics Market Reportstyrene export margins below variable costs and limited export interest in late February and March. Ethylene spot prices have eased significantly but the export netback has not improved significantly yet. Phenol domestic demand is very strong and the phenol market remains very tight but it is supply limited.

ExPORTS

• Demand for styrene exports dried up in March as the tight ethylene market pushed incremental costs up above the respective netback prices in Asia and Europe. The Asian New Year holidays understandably slowed demand but hopes were than demand would increase after the participants returned to work. Instead sup-ply issues in Europe has increased the netback and demand for imports from the U.S. Styrene is flowing that direction to some degree while Dow’s recent force majeure announcement in phenol has limited supply and reduced the material available for export.

PRICE AND MARgIN FORECAST

PRICES

• For most of the month, the backwardation in the benzene market has pointed towards a lower benzene contract price in April but recently another run up in European benzene prices has all about thrown this forecast out the window. There is time before the end of the month for events in Europe to cool but time is rapidly running out and there is a real possibility that the April contract price will not be much lower than March now.

DIFFERENTIALS

• The differential between crude and benzene has shrunk over the past few months and was forecasted to continue to shrink. The recent run up in spot benzene prices may delay this inevitability. Differentials between toluene blend value, reformate, ULP, ULR and naph-tha are forecasted to become more evenly spread as we enter the gasoline season. Crude oil continues to trade between $70 to $82 per barrel but is currently at the high end of the range. Reformate differentials has even improved and is forecasted to have a small differential during the summer.

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Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10 Jul-10 Jan-11 Jul-11

Cents Per GallonU.S. Benzene Contract Price

Forecast

~

050

100150200250300350400450500

Jan-2008 Jan-2009 Jan-2010 Jan-2011

U.S. Benzene Short-term Price Forecast Build-up

CRUDE WTI NAPHTHA ULR ULP REF TLN BV BZE

Forecast

Cents Per Gallon

~Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Jan-2008 Jul-2008 Jan-2009 Jul-2009 Jan-2010 Jul-2010 Jan-2011 Jul-2011

U.S. Benzene to Naphtha Short-term Forecast

100RON Reformate over NaphthaToluene Blend Value over Reformate

Forecast

Source: Purvin & Gertz; CMAI ~

Cents Per Gallon

Page 14: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 14

BENZENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

2010 World Benzene Analysis

The 2010 World Benzene Analy-sis will function as your most versatile source of manufacturing, marketing, economic and forecast information.

Clients are entitled to a reasonable amount of consulting time and data requests in the respective product area for a period of one year. Access to CMAI’s online capacity and supply/demand databases is also included. Clients have the ability to access and download in a spreadsheet format the most up-to-date capacity data for the products covered.

Available in book format and CD-ROM format, this annual study comprises a truly extensive collection of data derived from CMAI’s own database. To order your copy of CMAI’s 2010 World Benzene Analysis, contact CMAI at [email protected].

Includes online access to CMAI’s Supply/Demand & Capacity Databases! Data presented over

a period of eleven years2004 - 2014

www.cmaiglobal.com

CMAI - Headquarters11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 700

Houston, TX 77079 USATel: 1-281-531-4660Fax: 1-281-531-9966

Regional OfficesDubai - Düsseldorf - London

New York - Shanghai - Singapore

Excellence & Experience in Consulting Since 1979

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MARgINS• Benzene margins and differentials started out the year at a high water mark. The margins were forecasted to

ease due to a combination of higher crude oil prices and lower benzene prices. With a recent spike in Europe, benzene prices may not fall and margins would be expected to increase. Toluene conversion margins this year are vastly improved from the same time last year and on a spot basis the uptick in benzene and mixed xylenes prices, margins are growing once again. The onset of gasoline season normally provides an uplift in benzene prices but year by year, this is gradually subsiding. The pull of octane into the gasoline pool has subsided with the increase in ethanol and this has lowered the cost structure of incremental benzene production.

Page 15: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 15

STYRENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

SPOT STYRENE 18-Feb-10 25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10Current Month cts/lb 57.50 - 58.50 n 58.50 - 59.00 n 59.00 - 59.00 59.20 - 61.00 58.75 - 59.50 nMarch US$/MT 1267.6 - 1289.7 n 1289.7 - 1300.7 n 1300.7 - 1300.7 1305.1 - 1344.8 1295.2 - 1311.7 nFollowing Month cts/lb - - 58.50 - 59.00 n 57.50 - 57.75 58.00 - 59.00 nApril US$/MT - - 1289.7 - 1300.7 n 1267.6 - 1273.2 1278.7 - 1300.7 nn = notional posting

North America

U.S. CONTRACT STYRENE PRICE SETTLEMENTS FOR FEbRUARYOn average, the contract price settled up 1.25 cents per pound, bringing the contract price to a range of 68.25 to 71.50 cents per pound. The net industry average styrene price increased by 1.56 cents per pound to 60.71 cents

per pound. There were no price increase announcements for March.

PRICINg/ECONOMICS

• General Trend – Prices have peaked and are now heading lower however the decline is expected to find support in the mid/upper 50s unless crude oil prices ease or European styrene production improves. The speed of the decline will be partially dependent on raw material costs easing, especially eth-ylene. Spot benzene has already dropped while spot ethylene has peaked and has eased significantly but it still has a way to go but we are still in the midst of cracker turnarounds. Lower North American costs and higher European prices will open the arb from the US to Europe. In the short term, spot styrene prices will be set by the higher of costs or the European net back.

• Cash Costs – North American styrene pro-ducers no longer have the luxury of low costs in early 2010. Despite all of the atten-tion paid to benzene, it is really ethylene that has been driving the market recently. The tight ethylene market has limited the ability of styrene producers to hit their production targets for March. In the meantime, benzene continues to pile up and spot prices continue to fall but as ethylene supply improves ben-zene will rebound. While falling spot ben-zene prices and rising crude oil prices have caused benzene margins to shrink, ethylene margins have plumped up. Spot ethylene hit a high in early March but is falling just as quickly. Natural gas prices have eased as well as heating season is ending. Overall, lower benzene, ethylene and natural gas costs are forecasted to result in lower April styrene costs.

• Spot Prices – Styrene spot prices have been relatively steady in March. The tight ethylene market has kept

the styrene price from following benzene lower and the lack of demand has kept styrene from moving higher. The styrene spot market has been limited to co-producers and South America in March. In April, the styrene

$65$59

North America West Europe Northeast Asia1,310$ 1,332$ 1,249$

$48 $45$45 $40

South America Middle East Southeast Asia1,355$ 1,209$

Arbitrage Producer MarginNA to WE (26)$ NA to WE 39$ NA to NEA (119)$ Spot Price NA to NEA (54)$ WE to NA (71)$ Freight NA to SA 65$ WE to NEA (148)$ WE to NA (8)$ SEA to NEA -$ WE to NEA (85)$ NEA to WE 8$ March pricing. ME to NEA 271$ Units: -000- Metric Tons; Styrene cash costs are based on typical, conventional EB/SM units; NEA = FOB Korea

Styrene Trade: Arbitrage & Producer Margins~

Low Contract Avg. Spot Net Ind. Avg. Cash Costs Cont. Marg. Spot Avg. Marg. Ind. Avg. Marg.Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb Cts/Lb

Jan-10 67.0 59.00 59.15 56.4 10.6 2.6 2.7Feb-10 68.3 59.19 60.71 59.4 8.9 -0.2 1.3Mar-10 60.68 57.1

Cash costs are estimated for March. Contract does not include discounts and are unsettled.

U.S. STYRENE PRICE MOVEMENTS

U.S. STYRENE EXPORTSJanuary Year-to-date (through January) Percent Change

Exports to: 2010 2008 2009 2010 10 vs 08 10 vs 09

Mexico 124 39 30 124 219% 315%South America 72 96 87 72 -25% -18%West Europe 22 11 60 22 96% -63%Taiwan 4 41 4 4 -90% 0%China 11 4 29 11 150% -63%Asia/Pacific 56 11 0 56 402% 688330%Others 1 2 8 1 -43% -85%

TOTAL 289 204 218 289 42% 32%Units: Millions of Pounds Source: U.S. Dept. of Com. & CMAI estimates

Page 16: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 16

STYRENENorth America Aromatics Market Report2010 Americas Styrene Operating Schedule

(000 Metric Tons)Capacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

North American Capacity 5,925 503 455 503 487 503 487 503 503 487 503 487 503North American Capacity Lost 80 18 - - 33 - - - 29 - - - -North American % Capacity Lost 1.3% 4% 0% 0% 7% 0% 0% 0% 6% 0% 0% 0% 0%South American Capacity 756 64 58 64 62 64 62 64 64 62 64 62 64South American Capacity Lost - - - - - - - - - - - - -South American % Capacity Lost 0.0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Polystyrene Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 U.S. STYRENE & MAJOR DERIVATIVES SBL Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10Production 996 1085 992 Production 206 210 215Op. Rate 77.4 83.3 75.3 Op. Rate 63.5 64.1 65.0Total Demand 1027 1131 1023

STYRENE Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 ABS/SAN/Other Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10EPS Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 Production 2057 2156 2087 Production 395 409 419

Production 151 181 190 Nameplate Op. Rate 74.6 77.3 74.0 Op. Rate 78.0 80.7 82.7Op. Rate 65.6 77.6 80.3 Effective Op. Rate 78.5 82.4 78.6 Total Demand 406 424 445Total Demand 186 209 211 Imports 325 300 300

Domestic Demand * 1637 1766 1667 SBR Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10% of Styrene Dom. Demand Q1-10 Q2-10 Q3-10 Exports 745 690 720 Production 270 270 279Polystyrene 59% 60% 58% Total Demand 2382 2456 2387 Op. Rate 46.1 45.6 46.6EPS 8% 9% 10% Inventory 395 395 395ABS/SAN/Other 8% 8% 8% Inventory (Days) 14.9 14.6 15.2 UNITS: Million PoundsSBL 7% 7% 7%SBR 4% 4% 4% * Includes listed and balance of domestic demand - PS, EPS, & ABS data includes Canada Exports % of Total Demand 31% 28% 30% - Total demand includes exports (Canada not included in styrene demand)

March 2010

~

spot price will be set by the higher of costs and the European netback. Spot styrene prices are forecasted to move lower in April.

• Contract Announcements – For March, pro-ducers did not nominate any price increases although the tight ethylene market caused some to consider it.

• Margins – Higher costs, a backwardated market and the lack of export demand have combined to squeeze styrene margins. Styrene producers are expected to be in slightly better shape in April as spot ethylene prices ease and the export market begins to reopen. Despite the poor styrene margins, remember that integrated styrene producers are still making money in the chain.

• TRADE: Trade data are now updated through January 2010 and 2010 has started out with extremely strong exports to Asia. This is pretty impressive when you consider that Dow has permanently shut down the styrene plant at Freeport, TX and the slow PO demand has restrained SM production from POSM facilities. Volumes for 2010 are 32 percent higher than in 2009 and 42 percent higher than in 2008. It’s a great start but it is not expected to hold up.

• Exports to Europe – Exports to Europe have taken a back seat to exports to Asia. Recently, the high North American ethylene prices have kept North American styrene producers from having a competitive cost structure so nothing has moved. Planned and unplanned issues in Europe in the near term are expected to open the arb to Europe but starting in 2010, exports to Europe have been slow. Volumes in 2010 as of January 2010 are 63 percent lower than 2009 but are 96 percent higher than in 2008.

• Exports to Asia – Exports to Asia started the year strong as China was stimulating the economy but as 2010 progressed, China began to start to pull back on some of the stimulus. The market understandably slowed as

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% Operating RateMillion PoundsU.S. Styrene Balance

Net Exports Domestic Demand Oper. Rate (Available) ~

Page 17: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 17

STYRENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

Asia began celebrating Asian New Year but as they have returned back to work, styrene prices have dropped and inventories appear plentiful. As of January 2010, 2010 volume was 111 percent higher than 2009 volume and 2010 was 26 percent higher than 2008 volume. February data is expected to be strong as well but March and April are expected to be slow for exports to Asia.

• Exports to Mexico – Exports to Mexico are expected to increase this year but the data shows an unusually large increase in January 2010. The increase is quite frankly excessive and we are interested to see if the February data corrects this situation. Some pre-buying was seen in the market place but still this seems excessive. The January 2010 data is 315 per-cent higher than 2009 and 219 percent higher than in 2008.

• Exports to South America – Although 2010 started out with strong exports to Asia, we have recently had the arb closed to both Asia and Europe. During these times, South Ameri-can exports are the preferred outlet for North American exporters. Despite the loss of the South American market to European product for a month, North American producers now have the market back. As a result, January 2010 has started out slow and is 18 percent lower than 2009 and 25 percent lower than 2008.

MARKET ANALYSIS – SALE OF DOw STYRON TO bAIN CAPITAL

• On March 2, Dow announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell Dow’s Styron Division to an affiliate of Bain Capital for $1.63 billion. The transaction provides Dow an option to receive up to 15 percent of the equity of Styron and includes long-term supply, service and purchase agreements. The transaction is expected to close by August 2010 subject to the completion of the customary conditions and obtaining regulatory approvals.

• The agreement marks the exit of one of the major global styrene producers. BASF has also indicated their desire to exit the styrenics business and has recently sold off some pieces of the business such as a styrene plant in Korea and a polystyrene plant in Brazil. BASF has announced that they are working on a potential joint venture but so far nothing definitive has been announced.

Rundate: 3/19/2010 11:15 AM CMAI Capacity Database

SHARE COMMENTSRANK OWNER % OF TOTAL

1 Royal Dutch/Shell 8.64%2 Access Industries 6.00% Bankruptcy3 Dow 5.72% Sold4 BASF SE 5.38% For Sale5 Total 5.25%6 Ineos 3.84%7 Formosa Group 3.84%8 SABIC 3.76%9 SINOPEC 3.39%

10 CNPC 3.14%Totals 48.96%

~

World

2010 Average Annual CapacitiesSTYRENE PRODUCERS BY SHAREHOLDER

©2010 CMAI, All Rights ReservedAll CMAI General Warranties and Disclaimers Apply

To view visit http://elmo.cmaiglobal.com/default.aspx/Warranty.htm 1 of 1

Rundate: 3/19/2010 11:16 AM CMAI Capacity Database

COMPANY LOCATION 2010 OWNERSHIP SALEAmericas Styrenics Donaldsonville, LA USA 499 50.00% StyronAmericas Styrenics Donaldsonville, LA USA 454 50.00% StyronDow Schkopau GFR 300 100.00% StyronDow Benelux Terneuzen NET 500 100.00% StyronSiam Styrene Map Ta Phut, Rayong THA 300 49.99% Not Included In StyronTKSC Shuaiba KUW 475 42.50% Not Included In Styron

Total - STYRENE 2,528

~

TOTAL(S)

Dow Chemical Company as ShareholderSTYRENE

Average Annual Capacities - Metric Units

©2010 CMAI, All Rights ReservedAll CMAI General Warranties and Disclaimers Apply

To view visit http://elmo.cmaiglobal.com/default.aspx/Warranty.htm 1 of 1

Page 18: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 18

STYRENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

• The sale of Dow Styron to Bain Capital by itself will not have much of an impact on the North American styrene market. One could argue that the recession and the sale process has already created the significant changes with the shutdown of Dow’s styrene facility in Freeport, TX and one styrene line in Europe. By the finalization of the sale in late 2010, Dow’s ownership interest in styrene will be limited to their 15 percent option in Dow Styron. Dow’s 50% ownership in Americas Styrenics is included in the sale of Dow Styron.

• With the disposition of Dow’s styrenics business clarified, the disposition of BASF’s styrenics business and LyondellBasell’s emergence from bankruptcy now become the focus of attention. For North American styrene, supply remains long and it will take an acquisition by a current player to significantly change the equation.

NEAR TERM OUTLOOK – U.S. bALANCES

• Domestic Demand – Domestic demand has slowed in the second half of March as inventories are pulled down in anticipation of lower prices in April. The combination of lower prices and a seasonal uptick in demand is expected in April. This will help styrene producers but it is export demand that is needed to balance the supply. Additionally, nearly half of the demand is stymied by butadiene or polybutadiene rubber today.

• Export Demand – Export demand has been slow in March as North American styrene prices were pushed up-wards by a tight ethylene market. The arb to Europe and Asia were closed. Although many were hopeful that Asia prices would rebound after the Asian New Year holidays, this has not occurred. Planned and unplanned outages in Europe are expected to push European styrene prices higher. This is expected to open the arb to Europe unfortunately for the trade there is not a lot of spot availability in April.

• Production/Inventory – Inventories continued to grow in late February and March but is now being corrected. The tight ethylene market reduced styrene production and helped keep the imbalance in line. Unfortunately the lack of an export market continued to push inventories upwards until a large parcel was purchased by South America and some parcels headed to Europe. As we indicated before, styrene inventories could quickly go from long to short with a little bit of export demand.

• Planned/Unplanned Outages – In April, Cosmar, the Total and SABIC IP JV, will be down for an ethylbenzene and styrene turnaround. There are other facilities that are production constrained due to low PO demand and market conditions but the turnaround season in North America is light this year.

Page 19: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 19

North America Aromatics Market Report STYRENE DERIvATIvES

DERIvATIvE DEMAND OUTLOOK

• Domestic derivative demand for styrene con-tinues to be positive although you wouldn’t arrive at that conclusion looking at demand today. Demand slowed at the end of March but we believe this was due to the percep-tion that prices would be lower in April. As a result inventories were pulled down a little. Overall demand is not particularly strong but the economy is slowly improving and the fear that gripped the nation last year is gone. A seasonal uptick in demand should kick in as the winter comes to an end.

• Although polystyrene demand growth con-tinues to stagnate, it hasn’t fared as badly as other materials in this recession. Demand for styrene into polystyrene slowed at the end of March and increased spot styrene availability. Demand should return to a more normal level in April.

• Many EPS demand segments are very cyclical and March is not a particularly strong month for EPS demand. EPS production has slowed but lower costs and the expectation of a seasonal improvement in demand is expected to improve demand for styrene in April.

• Contrary to PS and EPS, the styrene derivatives that require butadiene are already beginning to suffer from the high price of butadiene and supply constraints. This is expected to get worse, not better as the year progresses. Half of the styrene demand, requires butadiene or PBR, this will hamper the normal demand pull for styrene into these derivatives.

• Overall, we are optimistic about improving styrene demand in April but some of this will be due to inventory adjustments and underlying demand will have to kick in as well to keep the wheel rolling.

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U.S. Polystyrene Economics

Cash Cost Contract Spot Net. Trans. Margin ~

Dollars Per Metric Ton

U.S. & CANADA POLYSTYRENE MARKET SUMMARY (inclds. EPS)16-Mar-10 Oct '09 - Jan '10(MM Lbs) '10 vs '09 '10 vs '08

Total Supply 392 389 399 415 7.6% -16.2%Domestic Sales 415 350 390 386 -4.0% -22.7%Total Sales 460 394 432 418 -3.1% -22.2%Inventory Change -68 -5 -33 -3Source: APC, U.S. Dept. of Comm., CMAI Est.

Oct-09 Nov-09 Dec-09 Jan-10

Page 20: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 20

CYCLOHEXANENorth America Aromatics Market ReportOPERATIONS & SUPPLY

• Domestic production during March has been strong as U.S. producers are running at robust rates on the back of healthy demand. The supply situation is also stable now as all U.S. producers should have now recovered from the feedstock restrictions seen at the beginning of the year. Moreover, there have been no major operational issues to report during March, so supply should be comfortable as we enter Q2 2010.

DEMAND

• As mentioned above, demand is currently robust as producers of nylon intermediates are continuing to run at high rates. Demand for cyclohexane has also been particularly good during the past month as the current tight supply of phenol has impacted those produc-ers which use phenol as a feedstock for their caprolactam and adipic acid operations. Fur-thermore, demand for U.S. exports of capro-lactam into Asia remains strong. Meanwhile, domestic demand for nylon fiber continues to be flat with no growth in sight. On the other hand, demand for engineering resins from the U.S. automotive sector has seen some slight growth despite the recent drop in production levels from Toyota which has been plagued by public concerns regarding the safety of its vehicles. However, the impact of this issue on nylon demand may not become apparent until the next few months as their automobile inventories reach lower levels.

COSTS

• Production costs in the U.S. are estimated to have seen a significant drop in March as contract benzene for this month settled at $3.43 per gallon, a drop of 7 percent when compared to February’s price. Meanwhile, spot benzene prices during March continued to drop and were approaching $3.20 per gallon by midmonth, although prices have now ticked higher, we could see a drop for April’s settlement. U.S. natural gas prices have also been on a downward trend as inventories remain ample and home-heating demand begins to die down with warmer temperatures. By mid-March, NYMEX prices had reached levels near $4.35 per MMBtu, which is a 16 percent decrease when compared to the same period in February.

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Cash CostCPL Asia Spot-USGC Netback

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Dollars Per Metric Ton

U.S. CYCLOHEXANE IMPORTS

January Year-to-date (through January) Percent ChangeImports From: 2010 2008 2009 2010 10 vs 08 10 vs 09

Netherlands 12.0 13.4 6.1 12.0 -10% 96%China 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -Brazil 0.0 2.5 0.0 0.0 -100% -Others 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -

TOTAL 12.0 15.9 6.1 12.0 -24% 96%Units: Thousand Tons Source: U.S. Dept. of Com. & CMAI estimates

U.S. CYCLOHEXANE EXPORTS

January Year-to-date (through January) Percent ChangeExports to: 2010 2008 2009 2010 10 vs 08 10 vs 09

Mexico 7.0 8.0 0.0 7.0 -12% 18391%Switzerland 7.0 0.0 0.0 7.0 - -Colombia 1.1 0.0 0.0 1.1 - -Others 0.2 8.4 7.8 0.2 -98% -98%

TOTAL 15.3 16.4 7.9 15.3 -7% 94%Units: Thousand Tons Source: U.S. Dept. of Com. & CMAI estimates

Page 21: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 21

CYCLOHEXANENorth America Aromatics Market ReportTRADE

• With domestic production rates back to normal, March seemed to be a more active month in terms of trade—although not by much—with a modest flow of product from the U.S. headed for South America. Furthermore, there has been talk of interest in moving cyclohexane from the Americas into West Europe, but there have been no confirmed transactions. Nonetheless, we will probably see some activity between U.S. and European traders when March statistics become available. In the meantime, U.S. trade data is now available for January, which show exports totaling 15.2 KT, a 25 percent drop when compared to December, but nevertheless a level very much in line with those seen in previous years (with the exception of the terrible 2009 when January exports were down 50 percent from this year’s level ). More specifically, January exports were primarily destined to Mexico (7 KT), Switzerland (7 KT), and Colombia (1 KT).

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Available in book format and CD-ROM format, this annual study comprises a truly extensive collection of data derived from CMAI’s own database. To order your copy of CMAI’s 2010 World Nylon Fibers & Feedstocks Analysis,contact CMAI at [email protected].

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Page 22: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 22

CUMENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

Capacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecCapacity 4,775 406 366 406 392 406 392 406 406 392 406 392 406Capacity Lost 820 70 63 70 67 70 67 70 70 67 70 67 70Capacity Lost: Others/Estimates 89 - - - 60 30 - - - - - - -% Capacity Lost 19% 17% 17% 17% 32% 25% 17% 17% 17% 17% 17% 17% 17%

2010 United States Cumene Operating Schedule(000 Metric Tons)

Following the withdrawal of the Refinery Grade Propylene (RGP) contract price, CMAI has been basing its cumene formula prices on the spot weighted average propylene price reported on the first Friday of each month. In Janu-ary 2008, CMAI began reporting a new propylene marker entitled “Refinery Grade Propylene Weighted Average Acquisition”. This price is the weighted combination of spot and contract transactions for the current month. We continue to use the spot weighted average RGP price for our cumene contract price; however, we will consider moving to the RGP Weighted Average Acquisition price if market participants start to adopt this price reference.

PRICE/ECONOMICS

• The CMAI Cumene Formula price for March has been fixed on lower benzene, refinery grade propylene and natural gas prices from the previous month. The contract benzene price decreased by $0.26 per gallon to $3.43 per gallon for March. The spot weighted aver-age RGP price for February was 54.97 cents per pound and slipped down to 54.09 cents per pound at the start of March. Combined, these yield a March Cumene Formula price of 52.70 cents per pound.

TRADE

• Trade data is available for January 2010, however there was very little export volume transacted during that month with only 5.4 tons moving to Mexico. A lack of exports can be attributed to an increase in feedstocks in the U.S. during the month of January as well as the lack of available capacity resulting from some operational issues during that month. During the month of March, cumene export levels increased over those seen in February as feedstock restrictions in Europe limited cumene operating rates.

MARKET

• The capacity in Corpus Christi, Texas is running following repairs required after the fire that erupted at the end of last year and rates are believed to be at or near their maximums in support of the continued strong demand pull from phenol due to domestic consumption into phenol derivatives, some of which are being exported to Asia to help feed the demand for that region. Refinery grade propylene prices have climbed up and now hover around 60 cents per pound; cumene’s formula price nature allows for a fairly straight forward passing of this cost down the chain. It is the phenol/acetone business that will find the increase harder to handle.

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U.S. Cumene Raw Materials Relationship

Forecast

U.S. CUMENE EXPORTS U.S. CUMENE EXPORTS

January Year-to-date (through January) Percent ChangeExports to: 2010 2008 2009 2010 10 vs 08 10 vs 09

Brazil 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -Germany 0.0 13.5 0.0 0.0 -100% -Italy 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -Netherlands 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -India 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -China 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -Taiwan 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 - -Others 0.0 3.7 0.0 0.0 -100% -

TOTAL 0.0 17.2 0.0 0.0 -100% -Units: Thousand Tons Source: U.S. Dept. of Com. & CMAI estimates

Page 23: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 23

CUMENENorth America Aromatics Market ReportPRICE/MARgIN OUTLOOK

• CMAI is forecasting that prices will move in line with raw materials and, as such, we ex-pect that the April price will increase by 1.12 cents per pound as a net result of feedstocks moving in opposite directions. While benzene prices soften 11 cents per gallon, refinery grade propylene prices will continue remain strong with expectations of prices around six cents per pound higher in the coming month. Refinery outages in other regions continues to drive propylene derivative export demand and thus keep domestic refinery grade propylene supply tight.

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Cumene Trade ForecastThousand Metric Tons

North America

%AAGR 04-09/09-14 ~

% Operating Rate

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Royalties have not been counted in the cash cost calculation

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U.S. Cumene Economics

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U.S. Cumene Demand(Domestic vs International)

Domestic cumene demand = "other cumene" + domestic phenol demand + phenol net exports

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Page 24: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 24

PHENOLNorth America Aromatics Market ReportFebruary U.S. phenol contract prices settled, on average, at an increase of 1.90 cents per pound from January; therefore, the

CMAI Weight Average Index of freely negotiated contract prices is 78.42 cents per pound for February.

PRICE/ECONOMICS

• U.S. benzene contract prices rose by 14 cents per gallon from January to February while the February refinery grade spot weighted aver-age propylene (RGP) price increased by hefty 6.59 cents per pound from January’s level. Meanwhile, phenol’s co-product credit price for February increased by 2.5 cents per pound (on average) from the previous month.

• The March phenol prices have yet to settle, however the benzene movement was a de-crease of 3.53 cents per pound from February. CMAI expects that settlements will move down by this month or slightly less as ac-etone prices are struggling to keep pace with strong RGP prices. This struggle is brought about by low inventories of RGP keeping prices up all while strong phenol demand adds to acetone availability and makes pass-ing costs down this side of the chain more challenging.

TRADE

• Trade data is available for January of 2010 and is shown in the accompanying table. Exports of phenol increased by almost 6.5 thousand tons from December to January. The volume to China remained fairly steady from the previous month while we can see the emergence of exports to West Europe and Thailand resulting from limits on feed-stock cumene, as is the case in Europe, or the increase in derivative demand and lack of running phenol capacity, as is the case for Asia.

MARKET

• As mentioned, phenol demand has been very strong. Some of the pull on supply has been continued phenol derivative exports to Asia as demand increases there and capacity of-fline within the region have them looking for imports. The cumene feedstock limitations in Europe are making that region nonviable as a substantial exporter for the time being and thus more phenol

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U.S. Phenol/Raw Materials Monthly Price ChangeDollars Per Metric Ton, Month Dollars Per MetricTon, Year Cumulative

*** Producers want blue line above red line

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Page 25: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 25

PHENOLNorth America Aromatics Market Report

Capacity Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecCapacity 2,945 250 226 250 242 250 242 250 250 242 250 242 250Capacity Lost 43 3 3 25 12 - - - - - - - -Capacity Lost: Others/Estimates 104 20 10 - 49 25 - - - - - - -% Capacity Lost 5% 9% 6% 10% 25% 10% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

2010 United States Phenol Operating Schedule(000 Metric Tons)

is being sourced from the U.S. Additionally, this lack of phenol supply in Europe has com-panies with bisphenol A and/or polycarbonate capacity in both regions leaning more heavily on their U.S. assets to supply their customers globally. Phenol demand into bisphenol A has been strong as a result of good epoxy demand and even better polycarbonate demand. The draw for polycarbonate has been into automo-tive and some construction applications, some of which may be restocking but some is clearly attributable to increases in consumer spending. Also, the demand for polycarbonate into appli-ances has improved. Overall the U.S. phenol chain is seeing high operating rates and yet a tight supply situation; this continues to leave some domestic phenol derivative producers scrambling to find enough phenol as they have demand to export their products.

• Dow declared force majeure on phenol in mid-March following the discovery of a broken heat exchanger at their Oyster Creek, Texas facility during a maintenance outage. The issue is expected to be resolved by mid April. This coupled with the upcoming maintenance outage of a major phenol/acetone producer in Texas will continue to squeeze phenol avail-ability.

• We expect negotiated phenol prices to follow benzene price movements closely for the next month or so, how-

ever acetone’s price strength relative to RGP looks to have begun to wane as February acetone prices settled on average at an increase of 2.5 cents per pound while RGP prices moved up 6.6 cents per pound. As it stands, March should see phenol prices at a decrease of 3.5 cents per pound while there is no real indication as to how much the acetone price will move.

U.S. PHENOL EXPORTS U.S. PHENOL EXPORTS

January Year-to-date (through January) Percent ChangeExports to: 2010 2008 2009 2010 10 vs 08 10 vs 09

Canada 5.4 11.3 5.3 5.4 -52% 2%Korea, South 0.4 2.0 0.0 0.4 -80% -West Europe 5.6 11.0 2.6 5.6 -49% 115%Thailand 7.3 3.7 0.0 7.3 100% -China 9.1 2.1 2.1 9.1 335% 345%Mexico 2.0 1.8 2.1 2.0 14% -6%India 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 - -Others 2.6 6.6 1.0 4.6 -30% 338%

TOTAL 34.6 38.3 13.2 36.5 -5% 176%Units: Thousand Tons Source: U.S. Dept. of Com. & CMAI estimates

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Polycarbonate Bisphenol Cumene Phenol

United States Net ExportsThousand Metric Tons

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Page 26: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 26

PARAXYLENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

United StatesContract PX cts/lb US$/MTMarch 50.50 1113April 52.00 1146Spot PXCurrent Month cts/lb 43.1 - 44.7 n 43.1 - 44.7 n 44.2 - 44.9 n 44.9 - 45.8 nMarch US$/MT 950.0 - 985.0 n 950.0 - 985.0 n 975.0 - 990.0 n 990.0 - 1010.0 nForward Month cts/lb 43.1 - 44.7 n 43.1 - 44.7 n 44.2 - 44.9 n 45.8 - 46.3 nApril US$/MT 950.0 - 985.0 n 950.0 - 985.0 n 975.0 - 990.0 n 1010.0 - 1020.0 n

SettledStatus

Forecast25-Feb-10 4-Mar-10 11-Mar-10 18-Mar-10

PRICINg

• PX spot prices, which ended the month of February around $975 per ton were very quite in early March. Three was one rumored trade around mid month for April at $1,015 indicat-ing that traders expected markets to turn a corner in the coming month.

• The U.S. PX contract for March has settled at 50.5 cents per pound ($1,113 per ton). This is a decrease of 1.5 cents per pound ($33 per ton). Asia has settled down $30 to $35 per ton (depending on February settlement) to $1,020 per ton. While consumers achieved rough parity with Asia, producers are facing a fairly strong increase in costs for the month and are looking at a significant compression in margins.

MARgINS

• With the 1.5 cent per pound ($33 per ton) de-crease in contract prices, producers will face a weighted average decline in margins of over $150 per ton as the lower sales price collides with a roughly $130 per ton weighted average increase in feedstock costs. Weighted average margins could drop below $50 per ton, their lowest point since November.

• Integrated xylenes based assets will likely see costs rise $115 per ton as octane values increase with the onset of gasoline season. Margins will decline to below $25 per ton. Merchant mixed xylenes contract prices increased only $12 per ton but the lower PX sales price will compress the return on merchant based units to below $15 per ton.

• The strong increase in octane values and fall-ing benzene markets have pushed up the raw material costs for integrated STDPs by $250 per ton. This combined with the expected PX contract price decrease will see the margins of these assets decline

$/MTContract

PriceSpot Price

Weighted Average Margin

Weighted Average

Integrated Adsorbtion

Non Integrated Adsorption

Integrated STDP

Non Integrated

STDPJul-09 1036 959 140 979 942 1119 941 997

Aug-09 1130 1039 246 1089 1057 1171 1139 1084Sep-09 1130 893 185 961 926 1057 974 1041Oct-09 920 838 -97 1011 981 1064 1077 1034Nov-09 1042 942 42 1079 1044 1160 1107 1088Dec-09 1152 1074 165 1069 1020 1213 1025 1130Jan-10 1185 1029 178 1104 1061 1266 998 1173Feb-10 1146 994 201 1059 1025 1168 1009 1118Mar-10 1113 982 48 1101 1066 1184 1123 1135Apr-10 1157 84 1107 1070 1215 1111 1171

May-10 1196 118 1152 1122 1221 1181 1171

Cash CostsU.S. PX Economic Summary

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U.S. Contract PX Spreads

PX Over Crude PX Over MX Blend ValuePX Over MX Contract PX Over NaphthaPX Over Regular Gasoline

Net Delivered BasisDollars Per Metric Ton

~

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Other China EuropeIndia & Pakistan SEA BrazilKorea Taiwan Mexico ~

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Page 27: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 27

PARAXYLENENorth America Aromatics Market Report$280 per ton. They will still however be the strongest assets in the field with margins over $150 per ton.

SUPPLY/DEMAND/TRADE

• Downstream polyester demand continues to show signs of improvement and domestic demand for PX is increasing but only slightly. Consumers are calling for more supply at the same time they are pushing for lower prices.

• January trade data shows a significant decline in U.S. exports. The strong exports in December came at the expense of a lower January. Total exports in January were only 47 thousand tons (kt) with all of that going to Mexico. When the January and December exports are averaged they are on the general trend of the previous months.

• Trade data shows that imports into the U.S. fell off to around 8 kt in January with all of that from Brazil.

FORwARD vIEw

• We expect that demand for polyester bottles will continue to pick up in April and the next several months with improved weather. The startup of AlphaPET’s second train at Decatur, Alabama should also give a temporary shot in the arm for PTA and PX demand.

• Crude oil and octane values are moving up with the startup of gasoline season. This is pressur-ing the alternative values of PX molecules and its feedstocks. Spot values have been respond-ing to this momentum. We believe that this will push up contract prices in April by roughly 2 cents per pound and nearly that again in May and June as well.

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2009 Q2 Q3 Q4 2010 Q2 Q3 Q4 2011 Q2 Q3 Q4

U.S. PX Quarterly Supply/Demand

Demand Supply Capacity Operating Rate

Operating Rate, %Qtrly Demand, KMTA

~

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United States PX Prices & Margins

Before-Tax Margin Direct Fixed Costs Variable CostsFeedstock Costs PX Contract ~

Delivered Basis - Industry Average Production CostsDollars Per Metric Ton

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United States PX Prices & Margins

Margin Direct Fixed VariableFeedstock PX Contract Operating Rate ~

Delivered Basis - Industry Average Production Costs% Operating RateDollars Per Metric Ton

Page 28: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 28

PTANorth America Aromatics Market ReportDec-09 Jan-10 Feb-10 Mar-10 Apr-10 May-10 Jun-10

US. PX Contract Price cts/lb 52.3 53.8 52.0 50.5 52.5 54.3 57US$/MT 1152 1185 1146 1113 1157 1196 1246

US PTA Formula cts/lb 47.5 48.8 47.7 46.6 48.3 49.5 51US$/MT 1048 1076 1051 1028 1065 1091 1124

Asian PTA Price US$/MT 910 930 940 930 953 983 953US-Asian Delta US$/MT 137.5 146.3 110.5 98.3 112.2 108.2 171.7

U.S. PTA Forecast

PRICINg/ECONOMICS

• We have published our March PTA benchmark price at 46.65 cents per pound ($1028 per ton). This is a decrease of 1 cent per pound from February. All of the decrease was from the change in the PX contract price with the other factors fixed for the remainder of the quarter.

• With Asian spot PTA prices having averaged around $950 per ton in March so far, the U.S. PTA price disadvantage for March is estimated at around $80 per ton per ton on a published basis and is much lower than that on a net basis. With higher ocean freight, Asian PET producers are not able to count on a raw material advan-tage through PTA to offset their logistics costs to the U.S. This is helping to keep U.S PET imports lower and thus U.S. domestic PET and PTA production higher.

SUPPLY/DEMAND/TRADE

• March PTA demand continued to show im-provement with an increase in downstream PET and bottle demand. The improvement however was only slight and capacity utilization in the North American PTA industry remains very low.

• The U.S. had an extremely strong export month in January with almost 33 kt of exports overall. January’s trade statistics show exports of 10 kt to Argentina, 9 kt to Brazil, 8 kt to Oman, and 5 kt to South Africa.

• U.S. imports from Canada rebounded further to 38 kt.

FORECAST

• PET demand should continue to improve through second quarter with warmer weather and better beverage demand. PTA demand will also pick up further in April with the expected

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Delta U.S. PTA Asia PTA ~

Dollars Per Metric TonDelta

United States Versus Asian PTA Prices

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United States PTA Trade

Mexico Canada AsiaSouth America Europe Middle East & AfricaNet Trade

Thousand Metric Tons

Exports

Imports

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Thousand Metric Tons

Exports

I

~

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Page 29: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 29

PTANorth America Aromatics Market Report

2010 World Terephthalates & Polyester Analysis

The 2010 World Terephthalates & Polyester Analysis will function as your most versatile source of manufacturing, market-ing, economic and forecast information with data presented over 11 years (2004-2014) and access to CMAI’s online capacity and supply/demand databases.

www.cmaiglobal.com

CMAI - Headquarters11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 700

Houston, TX 77079 USATel: 1-281-531-4660Fax: 1-281-531-9966

Regional OfficesDubai - Düsseldorf - London

New York - Shanghai - SingaporeChemicals - Plastics - Fibers

~

To order your copy of CMAI’s 2010 World Terephthalates & Polyester Analysis, contact CMAI at [email protected].

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!

startup of AlphaPET’s second PET line. This improvement will be short lived however as the supply is not needed in the market place.

• We project that PTA contract prices will increase over 1.5 cents per pound in April and that much again in both May and June with stronger PX markets globally. We do not expect for Asia’s price advantage to come back in the near future.

Page 30: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 30

PETNorth America Aromatics Market ReportU.S. Summary Economics

Cents Per PoundDEC-09 JAN-10 FEB-10 APR-10 MAY-10 JUN-10

Crude Oil (WTI $/bbl) 74 78 76 81 79 79 79Crude Oil (WTI cents/lb) 23.14 24.34 23.76 25.16 24.71 24.50 24.63PX 52.25 53.75 52.00 50.50 52.00 54.25 56.50PTA 47.52 48.82 47.65 46.65 47.98 49.49 51.00MEG 39.01 42.64 47.17 48.53 48.53 40.37 37.19PET Benchmark Price 76.75 79.75 81.25 81.25 * 82.75 80.75 80.50** Large Buyer Net Transaction 65.75 68.75 70.25 70.25 * 71.75 69.75 69.50PET - Asian average Delivered to U.S. 61.82 64.33 66.33 6.49 66.52 66.94 65.40Major Raws (PTA & MEG) 54.47 56.88 57.49 57.12 58.26 56.65 56.81

U.S. PET-PX & MEG 21.60 22.44 23.34 23.73 * 24.36 23.95 23.53U.S. PET - PTA & MEG 10.84 11.42 12.29 12.66 * 13.01 12.65 12.25U.S. PET - Asian PET Dlvd. To U.S. 3.93 4.42 3.92 63.76 * 5.23 2.81 4.10

*Estimate - MAR-10 contract price is unsettled at this time.

U.S. Spreads

**Net transaction price for large buyers of commodity grade PET, delivered in railcars to East Coast locations. Calculations are based off of this price.

MAR-10

~

PRICINg/ECONOMICS

• U.S. PET producers did not announce increase for March. PET prices for March are not yet settled. PX and PTA have decreased but this will likely be offset by glycol and total raw material costs may roll over. Consumers are looking closely at raw material costs and are keen to push prices down to offset some of February’s increase. Producers are still strug-gling with unacceptable economics and are looking to hold price.

• U.S. PET producers have announced increases of 4 cents per pound for April. They cite concern over possible raw material increases and the need to improve their economics to a sustainable level.

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PET Cash Cost - Merchant PTA PET Cash Cost - Integrated PTAPET Contract Margin, Merch PTAMargin, Integ PTA

Dollars Per Metric Ton

~

United States Polyester Bottle Resin EconomicsDelivered Basis

February Price Settlement – we have published our February PET benchmark prices as settled at an increase of 1.5 cents per pound from January. Raw material costs increased roughly 0.6 cents per pound but producers held on for increases of up to 2 cents per pound in most cases as they attempted to recover lost margin from the last several months. Many producers did indeed achieve increases of 2 cents per pound for their market based prices. we increased our benchmark price 1.5 cents per pound based on the lower increase in raw material plus contracts which average the overall industry down and our belief that net prices over the past several months have not moved up quite to the extent of our published increases for the same period. Net pricing for February was generally in the low to mid 60s (cents per pound).

Page 31: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 31

PETNorth America Aromatics Market ReportSUPPLY/DEMAND

• PET bottle demand has picked up some in the soft drink and sports drink sectors but water is still slow. Thermoforming demand has picked up especially in the fruit and producer sectors as the picking seasons for those markets near.

• Demand for recycled bottles has picked up and bale pricing is moving above 20 cents per pound in some areas as new converting capac-ity enters the market.

• AlphaPET is expecting to start the second train of their 432 kta plant in Decatur, Alabama in early April according to industry information.

• General operating rates in the industry remain in the upper 70s to low 80s.

TRADE

• Imports from non-NAFTA countries fell in Jan-uary (the latest data available) to 23.6 thousand tons (kt). This is well below the 30 kt imported in January 2009 and below the 32 kt monthly average for the last 12 months. This reflects the extreme price competition amongst U.S. producers and the loss of the raw material ad-vantage for Asian producers. Asian exporters are finding it difficult to compete even on the West Coast with full duty paid. Non-NAFTA duty free imports were 12.4 kt from a high of 28 kt back in May. This was still 53 percent of non-NAFTA imports. China fell to 19 percent of total non-NAFTA imports.

• The U.S. had roughly 30 kt of exports in Janu-ary with over 10.5 kt of that going to Central & South America and the Caribbean as those regions are in the final throws of their summer seasons.

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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

PX Comp PTA CompMEG Comp Conv Costs & Oth RawContract Price MarginAsian Dlvd Cost ~

Non-Integrated Producer/Discounts AppliedUnited States PET Economics

Dollars Per Metric Ton

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U.S. PET Resin Imports From Asia

Middle East South America Other AsiaChina Taiwan IndiaIndonesia South Korea Thailand

Thousand Metric Tons

~

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PET Variable Cost Comparison

Asian PX/EG US PX/EGAsian PTA/EG US PTA/EGUS/Asian PTA based difference Asian Delivered Cost to US EC CustomerAsian Delivered Cost to US EC Customer w/ duty ~

Cost / Dollars Per Metric Ton Difference / Dollars Per Metric Ton

Page 32: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 32

PETNorth America Aromatics Market Report

The PET Stream Market Advisory Service offers cli-ents in the PET packaging resin industries a global view of the PET supply chain from paraxylene and monoethylene glycol through terephthalic acid and PET.

The Service Includes...a weekly update on pricing and market move-• mentsa monthly market summary• access to our online price database with both • monthly and annual price history and fore-castsreasonable access to the regional consultants•

Contact CMAI for more info at [email protected]

FORECAST

• Spot PX markets in Asia have rebounded and we expect that U.S. contract prices will be pressured every month through June as octane markets improve with gasoline season.

• We expect that PET costs will increase close to 1.5 cents per pound in April based on the strong movement in PX. Producers have announced a 4 cent per pound increase in PET prices for April. They will need much of that to offset raw materials and to get their economics to a point of sustainability.

Page 33: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 33

ORTHOXYLENENorth America Aromatics Market Report

2010 World Toluene & Mixed Xylenes Analysis

The 2010 World Toluene & Mixed Xylenes Analysis will func-tion as your most versatile source of manufacturing, marketing, economic and forecast information with data presented over 11 years (2004-2014) and access to CMAI’s online capacity and sup-ply/demand databases.

www.cmaiglobal.com

CMAI - Headquarters11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 700

Houston, TX 77079 USATel: 1-281-531-4660Fax: 1-281-531-9966

Regional OfficesDubai - Düsseldorf - London

New York - Shanghai - SingaporeChemicals - Plastics - Fibers

~

To order your copy of CMAI’s 2010 World Toluene & Mixed Xylenes Analysis, contact CMAI at [email protected].

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!

• OX contract prices for March settled at 47 cents per pound. This was a rollover from February. The OX to MX spread rose to $212 per ton in March as MX contract prices fell roughly $12 per ton.

• We expect that the spread over mixed xylene contract prices will hold near the $200 per ton level and that OX prices will increase roughly 1 cent per pound in April.

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U.S. PX / OX Price Comparison

OX NET - MX CP OX Contract PX Contract MX Contract

Price - Dollars Per Metric Ton Spread - Dollars Per Metric Ton

~

Page 34: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 34

U.S. PRICE PAGENorth America Aromatics Market Report

Date Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High

Mar 129.00 129.00 180.0 180.0 144.93 144.93 22.51 22.51 43.00 46.25Apr 169.00 169.00 205.0 205.0 177.93 177.93 24.76 24.76 46.25 49.50May 190.00 190.00 210.0 210.0 195.25 195.25 28.08 28.08 44.25 47.50Jun 234.00 234.00 238.0 238.0 231.55 231.55 35.63 35.63 48.50 51.75Jul 292.00 292.00 236.0 236.0 279.40 279.40 41.69 41.69 54.50 57.75Aug 365.00 365.00 254.0 254.0 339.63 339.63 48.89 48.89 61.00 64.25Sep 279.00 279.00 234.0 234.0 268.68 268.68 46.09 46.09 53.75 57.00Oct 260.00 260.00 214.0 214.0 253.00 253.00 41.77 41.77 52.75 56.00Nov 285.00 285.00 253.0 253.0 273.63 273.63 43.01 43.01 54.50 57.75Dec 298.00 298.00 263.0 263.0 284.35 284.35 46.50 46.50 58.75 62.00Jan 2010 355.00 355.00 295.0 295.0 331.38 331.38 51.77 51.77 67.00 70.25Feb 369.00 369.00 305.0 305.0 342.93 342.93 55.39 55.39 68.25 71.50

Date Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High

Mar 40.50 40.50 40.13 42.60 70.00 74.00 33.50 33.50 46.00 47.00Apr 44.00 44.00 41.49 41.49 70.00 74.00 36.50 36.50 44.50 45.50May 49.50 49.50 45.18 45.18 74.50 78.50 36.50 36.50 47.50 48.50Jun 50.00 50.00 45.51 45.51 74.50 78.50 39.50 39.50 47.50 48.50Jul 47.00 47.00 43.57 43.57 74.25 78.25 39.50 39.50 50.50 51.50Aug 51.25 51.25 46.42 46.42 77.25 81.25 40.00 41.00 50.50 51.50Sep 51.25 51.25 46.42 46.42 78.25 82.25 40.00 40.00 51.50 52.50Oct 41.50 42.00 40.48 40.48 73.00 77.00 37.50 37.50 51.80 52.80Nov 47.25 47.25 44.17 44.17 73.75 77.75 42.00 42.00 49.50 50.50Dec 52.25 52.25 47.52 47.52 76.75 80.75 43.50 44.50 54.00 55.00Jan 2010 53.75 53.75 48.82 48.82 79.75 83.75 48.00 48.00 56.00 57.00Feb 52.00 52.00 47.65 47.65 81.25 85.25 47.00 47.00 60.00 61.00

NOTE: Please refer to the monthly prices on page 2 for explanations of notes.

Anhydride(5)Orthoxylene

CT/GAL CT/LB

CT/LBCT/LBCT/LB

PTA (1) Resin (1)

CT/GAL

Phthalic

CT/LB

Paraxylene (1)

CT/LB

HISTORICAL CONTRACT PRICESUNITED STATES

MixedXylenes (6)

Formula StyreneMarketCyclohexane CumeneBenzene (6)

PET Bottle

CT/GAL CT/LB

Page 35: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 35

W.E. PRICE PAGENorth America Aromatics Market Report

Date Low High Low High Low High Low High

Mar 262 262 382 382 685 685 619 644Apr 381 381 496 496 804 804 640 665May 439 439 554 554 862 862 733 758Jun 525 525 640 640 948 948 763 788Jul 656 656 776 776 1079 1079 811 836Aug 744 744 864 864 1167 1167 904 915Sep 576 576 696 696 999 999 968 979Oct 505 505 631 631 928 928 876 885Nov 547 547 673 673 970 970 829 854Dec 570 570 696 696 993 993 816 841Jan 2010 759 759 894 894 1182 1182 848 873Feb 723 723 858 858 1146 1146 1019 1044

Date Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High

Mar 695 695 822 822 899 939 550 550 720 760Apr 705 705 849 849 888 930 570 570 740 780May 795 795 927 927 965 1005 580 580 750 790Jun 795 795 927 927 946 995 620 620 785 825Jul 728 728 873 873 922 972 620 620 785 825Aug 760 760 905 905 953 998 650 650 815 855Sep 760 760 905 905 965 1008 660 660 825 865Oct 615 615 789 789 898 942 615 615 790 830Nov 680 680 838 838 920 966 650 650 815 855Dec 740 740 889 889 964 1010 660 660 820 860Jan 2010 800 800 937 937 1025 1065 690 690 850 890Feb 800 800 937 937 1060 1098 720 720 880 920NOTE: Please refer to the monthly prices on page 2 for explanations of notes.

EURO/Ton EURO/Ton

PTA (1)

EURO/Ton

xylene (1) Resin (1)

HISTORICAL CONTRACT PRICESWEST EUROPE

Para- Ortho-PET Bottle

Cyclohexane PhenolStyrene

Contract (1,7)

EURO/Ton

Benzene

EURO/Ton EURO/TonEURO/Ton

EURO/Ton EURO/Ton

PhthalicAnhydride(5) xylene (1)

Page 36: AMR Summary

March 19, 2010 Issue No. 1308 Page 36

ASIA/PACIFIC PRICE PAGENorth America Aromatics Market Report

Date Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High Low High

Mar 418 474 418 474 833 850 662 669 830 830 720 730Apr 598 628 598 628 993 1005 738 745 880 880 850 860May 608 642 608 642 890 914 747 747 1000 1000 880 890Jun 722 764 722 764 1005 1038 800 815 1000 1000 820 820Jul 818 855 818 855 1056 1090 831 837 960 960 860 875Aug 821 849 827 842 1139 1160 868 878 1040 1040 940 950Sep 758 790 758 790 1033 1051 768 788 1040 1040 820 820Oct 750 771 750 771 981 998 776 783 1000 1000 815 825Nov 850 874 850 874 1058 1083 859 869 960 960 910 910Dec 923 964 923 964 1156 1193 896 914 1060 1060 930 940Jan 2010 1013 1063 1013 1063 1288 1312 953 964 1090 1090 950 955Feb 935 955 935 955 1291 1313 878 886 1055 1055 960 960NOTE: Please refer to the monthly prices on page 2 for explanations of notes.

Provisional Pricing

$/TON$/TON

xylene (1)

$/TON $/TON $/TON$/TON

HISTORICAL CONTRACT PRICESASIA / PACIFIC

Para-FOB KoreaBenzene MixedBenzene

SE AsiaStyrene

PTA (1)CFR Taiwan Xylenes

Page 37: AMR Summary