UK plastics distributor Plastribution (Ashby; www.plastribution.co.uk) has secured an agreement with Slovnaft Petrochemicals (Bratislava / Slovakia; www.slovnaft.sk) to distribute LDPE from its new plant in Bratislava, which is in the final stages of starting up. The 220,000 t/y facility, which is known as LDPE4 and replaces three existing units, uses LyondellBasell’s tubular reactor technology to produce the "Bralen+" range of polymers.

Plastribution agreed to the contract for its UK customer base following a visit by company representatives to the plant in July. The distributor said first grades were now available commercially in the UK, with the full range expected by the end of this year.

The new plant is said to increase Slovnaft’s production flexibility, reduce costs and provide better product quality. The Slovakian company is a subsidiary of Hungarian oil and gas giant MOL(Budapest; www.mol.hu).