COVID-19 pandemic provides opportunities for polyolefins: Borealis CEO

London — The coronavirus pandemic has provided some opportunities hygiene products, but there are also risks in other petrochemical products, Borealis CEO Alfred Stern told S&P Global Platts following their third quarter results Nov. 4.

The company saw polyolefin sales volumes increase in the third quarter compared with the same quarter in 2019, as hygiene and healthcare segments experienced strong demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Demand from the automotive and pipes sector was subdued in early summer but climbed higher in Q3, with automotive demand recovering to 90% of 2019 levels.

"Demand for hygiene products has continued higher, we manufacture material to make non-woven facemask and PPE, as you can imagine there is good demand from those segments but also across the entire hygiene sector," Alfred said.

The CEO added that the company would seek sales opportunities in new segments in the coming year to maneuver through the low European price environment for polyolefins. Borealis expects demand for healthcare and hygiene applications to remain strong in Q4, while a full recovery in automotive demand was expected nearer the end of 2021.

"When we look at our demand situation, we are actually quite positive about where we stand this year and I expect those opportunities will continue to exist next year, is it in all the same sectors the we sold in the past? No, we will not come out [of the pandemic] in the same place so this will require some agility and finding some new laces of business."

However, Borealis was anticipating continued pressure in its upstream business which had experienced low margins amid the coronavirus pandemic. "The biggest struggle I see is the supply/demand imbalance and how the feedstock markets develop, this will not be resolved in 2021, we will continue to see a lower margin and a lower price environment in 2021 with opportunities across demand."