Europe chems stocks down as markets fall on eurozone debt worries

(ICIS) -- Stocks in the European chemical sector were being dragged down by a sharp fall in the global markets on Tuesday, as fears over the eurozone's debt problems continued. In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Chemicals index was trading down by 1.72%, indicating that many of Europe's major chemical companies had suffered some losses.


Among Europe's top producers, German major BASF's shares dropped by 1.60%, while Bayer's fell by 1.62%. Dutch coatings firm AkzoNobel's shares were down by 1.90%, France's Arkema's shares fell by 1.59%, Belgian producer Solvay's plummeted 2.93% and Germany's Kali and Salz (K+S) were down by 2.78%.


European stock markets were reacting to concerns that Italy and Spain - like Greece, Ireland and Portugal before them - will require a bail out from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.


MRC

Petro Rabigh to restart HOFCC unit by end July

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (Petro Rabigh) said that the High Olefins Fluid Catalytic Cracker (HOFCC) unit will be restarted by end July instead of mid July as announced previously, which will impact the sales of gasoline and polypropylene.


The company said that it has restarted all its units including the crude distillation unit, the ethane cracker, the PE unit and all other units by end June, except the HOFCC, (which produces 900 KTa of propylene) unit will which is set to be re-started in the next coming days.


The company said in early April that the maintenance work to last 60 days, and operations will start gradually after 45 days.


MRC

German Pallman appointed sales manager in China

(Pallman) -- Pallmann, a world-leading German company in size reduction technology, has announced the appointment of Jie Tang as its first Sales Manager in China. As of June 1 Jie Tang is in charge of all Pallmann's services in the Chinese market. Pallmann now has ten employees in China.


Earlier this year, the Pallmann group established Pallmann Refined Material Processing Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd in Beijing, before setting up the Shanghai branch. In May, the group had its own stand at Chinaplas for the first time, and reported considerable interest. A series of activities in the region have marked the entrance of the enterprise into the China market.


The Shanghai branch, Pallmann's second in Asia after the Beijing operation, will become Pallmann's business centre for the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan). Important markets for the company include plastics, chemical processing and recycling (PPR), a powerful complement to the timber area taken care of by its Beijing branch. In the future, Pallmann will be capable of offering complete sales service, equipment installation and technology training in China. It will also further accelerate the growth of the multi-industrial material crushing market in China and the Asia-Pacific region.


MRC

GS Caltex set up polymer compounds unit in Czech Republic

(Plastemart) -- In an effort to diversify its overseas business portfolio, GS Caltex Co. has set up a unit in the Czech Republic to produce and sell polymer compounds. To be located in Karvina, the plant is expected to have annual sales of 100 bln won (USD 93.8 mln), and construction is expected to be completed next year. GS Caltex is South Korea's second-largest refiner. The unit, GS Caltex Czech, will start to build a plant later this year. Europe is one of the biggest polymer compounds markets, with demand estimated to have reached 1.2 mln tpa.


MRC

PVC production in Russia 8% down over the six months

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Over the six months, Russian producers made 329.3 KT of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that was 8% less compared to the same period last year, according to MRC analysts. In June, Russian producers made 48.5 KT of PVC, among it - 46.5 KT of suspension resin.


The most considerable reduction of resin output was observed in the second quarter that was stipulated by scheduled maintenance of Chemprom (Volgograd), Sayanskchemplast, Plastkard and Sibur-neftehim.


Also one of the reason for output decrease was a long-term ethylene price conflict between Kaustik (Sterlitamak) and Gazprom neftehim Salavat.


Rapid increase of PVC processing made the Russian market a pure net importer. Since 2005, import supplies of PVC had been exceeding exports. By 2011, a share of import PVC in the Russian market had surpassed 50%. Over the six months, overall imports only of suspension PVC exceeded 247 KT.


In late May 2011, Group of companies Lukoil launched production of suspension PVC at Karpatneftehim in Ukraine. Investments in the project (German Vinnolit technology) made more than USD 500 mln. In June, the plant made 8.85 KT of suspension PVC.


Not earlier than in 2013, the Russian-Belgium JV Rusvinyl plans to launch a new PVC plant in Nizhegorod region with capacities of 330 KTa.


MRC