Ciech Trading (Warsaw / Poland; www.ciechtrading.pl), a distributor of raw materials and chemicals, has signed agreements with Iranian companies to import and sell PE and PP in Europe. Its partners include Jam Petrochemical Company (JPC, Tehran; www.jpcomplex.ir) and its subsidiary Jam Polypropylene Company (JPPC), as well as Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Company (PGPICC, Tehran; www.pgpicc.com), Ciech said.

The agreements foresee long-term cooperation and an annual increase in delivery volumes. The company aims at a 5% share of the Polish polyolefins market in two to three years' time, said Tomasz Grzela, president of Ciech Trading. Negotiations have been underway since November 2016, and the first cargoes have already been delivered to Polish ports in February, Ciech said, without giving any further details.

JPC produces HDPE and LLDPE, among other things, according to the company's website. In addition, the group has cracker capacities of around 1.3m t/y of ethylene and 300,000 t/y of propylene.

Poland is one of the fastest growing plastics markets in Europe. Demand from the packaging industry, the largest user industry, has been growing at an annual rate of around 5% for years. In this sector, LDPE/LLDPE make up more than a third of the materials used and HDPE accounts for 12% (see Plasteurope.com of 11.08.2017).

Basell Orlen Polyolefins (BOP, Płock / Poland; www.basellorlen.pl) is a very large polyolefins producer in the country. According to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), capacities for 320,000 t/y of HDPE, 150,000 t/y of LDPE and 400,000 t/y of PP are installed at the site. Ciech says a large part of the output is exported, so that domestic demand is not saturated.

According to Ciech, it is currently active mainly on the spot market, which accounts for around 30% to 40% of the Polish market. However, the Warsaw distributor wants to change this practice: The first long-term supply contracts with major customers will probably be signed in 2017.