Re-export of PE from Asia grew in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A number of offers for re-export supply of polyethylene (PE) from Asia to the CIS markets has considerably grown recently, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.


Low demand for polyethylene in China and efficient supplies form external suppliers resulted in a considerable surplus of offers. This made many companies re-export PE. At the end of March the first offers of PE re-export from Asia appeared in some CIS countries. A month later a number of both offers and bargains for PE supply grew.


Over the last week of April a level of prices for re-exported PE was within USD 1.480 - 1.520/mt, FOB, for HDPE, and USD 1.490 - 1.520/mt, FOB, for butane types of LLDPE. Also there are many offers for LDPE supply but the prices are high: USD 1.840 - 1.870/mt, FOB.


Some Russian and Ukrainian companies have already contracted test volumes for late May-early June supplies. The Russian market because of 10% import tax is now interested only in offers for LLDPE supplies but strengthening of ruble against dollar soon can make HDPE supplies beneficial as well.


The Ukrainian market because of euro strengthening against dollar and a considerably high level of export prices for the Russian PE is interested in offers for HDPE and LLDPE supplies.


MRC

DSM tenders Danisco shareholding

(DSM) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, announces that it has tendered its 4.95% stake in Danisco to DuPont. Upon completion of the DuPont offer of DKK 700 per ordinary Danisco share, DSM expects cash proceeds of EUR 222 million and to report a book profit of EUR 140 million before tax as an exceptional item.


MRC

LANXESS has successfully completed the acquisition of DSM Elastome

(Lanxess) -- Lanxess is paying EUR 310 million for the elastomer business of the Dutch company Royal DSM N.V. DSM Elastomers produces the synthetic rubber ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) under the brand name Keltan. Lanxess is financing the acquisition with existing liquidity.


DSM Elastomers, based in Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands, has roughly 420 employees worldwide. DSM Elastomers operates an EPDM facility with an annual capacity of 160 KT in Sittard-Geleen. An additional EPDM facility with a capacity of around 40 KTa is located in Triunfo, Brazil. LANXESS plans to transfer the headquarters for the combined EPDM business from Marl (Germany) to Sittard-Geleen.


The Technical Rubber Products (TRP) business unit of Lanxess, headed by Guenther Weymans, will sell its EPDM products under the brand names Buna EP and Keltan.


MRC

Lanxess expands production capacities for polychloroprene solid rubber

(Lanxess) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess is investing EUR 17 million in the expansion of its production capacities for polychloroprene solid rubber. The expansion at the Dormagen site is scheduled for completion by the end of 2012 and will increase production by 10 percent to 63 KTa.


Lanxess produces and markets polychloroprene solid rubber under the brand name Baypren. Uses for this product range include the production of cable sheathing, hoses, belts, seals and air springs.


The expansion work will also see the implementation of a new production technology that will enable Lanxess to operate more energy and resource efficiently and thus more ecologically.


MRC

BASF offers the packaging industry a variety of barrier solutions

(BASF) -- BASF offers the packaging industry a variety of barrier solutions that demonstrate a high effectiveness in preventing mineral oil residues from migrating from cardboard food packaging into food. This has been confirmed through a series of studies conducted by the official Food Safety Authority of the Canton of Zurich on the BASF products Ultramid, Epotal A 816, Ecovio FS Paper and specially developed dispersions. Four different solutions are available for coating every type of food packaging, including paper, cardboard and film. In 2010, a study by Zurich Food Safety Authority scientists using a dedicated measuring method had detected alarming levels of mineral oil residues from cardboard packaging in food. The same method was used in the testing of the BASF products.


MRC