Trinseo chief sees signs of recovery in China auto industry

Berwyn, Pennsylvania - Trinseo SA can see signs of recovery in the Chinese automotive market, CEO and president Frank Bozich said in a third-quarter earnings call. 

In particular, he noted that the Caixin, China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) had registered a fourth straight month of improvement in October – to reach its highest rating in more than two and a half years. 

The US polymers group is also encouraged by new incentives within the Chinese automotive market, Bozich told analysts on the 4 Nov call.

These include decisions by two of the most populated cities in China to raise license plate quotas from June 2019 until December 2020. Bozich did not identify the two cities.

“This has led to a substantial increase in new license plate registrations in these cities during the third quarter,” said Bozich. We're hopeful that government initiatives like this will stimulate sales growth in the automotive market “

Trinseo’s synthetic rubber business reported a 53.3% decline in earnings (adjusted EBITDA) for the third quarter of 2019. This, it said, was partly due to a sharp drop in sales of emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (ESBR), which is widely used in the production of standard tires in China.