Russian economy can survive low oil prices - Russia's Finance Minister

(RIA Novosti) -- The Russian economy will be able to function normally for a year, if global oil prices fall to USD 60 per barrel, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Monday in an interview with Russia Today international news TV channel. "We expect this fall will certainly cause a decrease in our economic growth down to nearly zero or below zero, but in terms of the budget policy we'll be able to cope with this for up to a year," Kudrin said.

Russia's finance minister said on Saturday he expected world oil prices to fall to USD 60 per barrel in the next one and a half to two years and stay at this level for about six months. After this, "we'll have to adjust policy and reduce expenditure. As a whole, however, we are ready to provide stability for a year or two and fulfil all our commitments," Kudrin said.

Russia's federal budget for the next three years is based on a forecast of Urals average yearly oil price at USD 100 per barrel in 2012, USD 97 per barrel in 2013 and USD 101 per barrel in 2014.


MRC

(Lanxess) -- LANXESS is investing EUR 12 million to convert 50 percent of its ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) synthetic rubber production in Geleen, the Netherlands, to innovative Keltan ACE technology. During 2013, the German specialty chemicals company will implement the new technology at the largest of its three production lines, which accounts for half of the total production capacity of 160,000 metric tons per year in Geleen.

Compared with conventional production processes, Keltan ACE technology reduces energy requirements for rubber production and it does not require catalyst extraction as a result of high catalyst efficiency. Furthermore, the process enables the manufacture of new EPDM rubber grades.

In addition, LANXESS will set up a new headquarters in Geleen for its global EPDM Rubber business. The building for up to 120 employees will be constructed on the chemical industrial site Chemelot. The contracts with the Chemelot Campus Consortium were signed today. Construction will start in the spring of 2012, and inauguration is planned for the beginning of 2013.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- Heavy gauge thermoform tooling manufacturer Tooling Technology LLC (Fort Loramie, OH) announced the acquisition of FPM Tooling and Automation in Fremont, Ohio. FPM, formerly known as Fremont Plastic Mold, specializes in the design and manufacture of custom industrial blow mold tooling, and in development and manufacture of automation equipment for both blowmolding and thermoforming. FPM's automation division also provides flexible work cells that incorporate robotic press loading, fastening, visual inspection, assembly, de-flashing, welding and packaging of finished parts.

Founded in 1982, Tooling Technology LLC has grown to become a major supplier of thermoform and compression mold tooling throughout North America. The company has two manufacturing facilities in Fort Loramie comprising over 65,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Applications include tooling for automotive headliners, carpet and floor assemblies, acoustic products, truck bed liners and more. The company also builds tooling for the consumer, agriculture and building and construction industries.

MRC

(RIA Novosti) -- The Coca-Cola Company has launched a USD 120 million plant in south Russia to supply non-alcoholic beverages for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi, the company said on Monday. The plant, some 20 km from Rostov-on-Don, which will be the company's fifteenth production facility in Russia, will have a capacity of 450 million decaliters of non-alcoholic beverages a year, the company said in a statement.

"Our system is part of the fabric of Russia's economic development and we continue to invest in Russia to create jobs and stimulate growth across our supply chain. Today's announcement underscores the Coca-Cola system's long-term strategy of investing in Russia," Coca-cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent was quoted in the statement as saying.

The Coca-Cola Company along with its bottling partner, Coca-Cola Hellenic, will invest in Russia more than USD 3 billion from 2012 to 2016, Kent also said.

MRC

(BASF) -- The light stabilizer Tinuvin a XT 200 from BASF prolongs the service life of films in agriculture. A greenhouse offers plants optimal growing conditions: it protects them against wind and weather while still admitting the light they need to grow. With ideal temperatures and targeted watering, plants flourish at a rate that would be unthinkable in an open field.

Increasingly, conventional glass greenhouses are being replaced by greenhouses consisting of simple frames covered with plastic films and combining lower cost with greater flexibility. 900,000 metric tons of these greenhouse films (usually made from polyethylene) were produced worldwide in 2009. Enough to cover about 800,000 hectares, or roughly the entire surface area of the Greek island of Crete, with greenhouses. To make these films resistant to intense sunlight, light stabilizers - of which BASF offers an entire product range under the trade name Tinuvin - are added to the material.


The light stabilizers protect the plastic against its worst enemy: weathering from the sun's intense UV radiation and the heat developing at the contact points with the metallic greenhouse frame. In fact, plastic films can become brittle and dull within a few weeks, an effect further intensified by the use of some agrochemicals. Unless, of course, they are protected by light stabilizers.


MRC