Arkema's adjusted net profit in the third quarter edged up by 1.56%

(ICIS) -- Arkema's adjusted net profit in the third quarter edged up by 1.56% year on year to ┬130m ($181m) as stronger product prices helped offset spikes in raw material costs and a one-off charge, the French specialty chemicals firm said on Wednesday. The third-quarter results included a non-recurring charge of ┬27m related to the acquisition of Total's specialty resins businesses, the company said.

Arkema's revenues in the July-September period grew by 18.6% year on year to ┬1.85bn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 6.91% to ┬263m, the company said in a statement.

The company's financial performance for the quarter was within expectations, said Thierry le Henaff, chairman and CEO of Arkema. ⌠This performance was boosted by strong growth in Asia, a region that now accounts for 20% of our sales, and new markets developed with our performance polymers, in particular in solutions for sustainable development, he said.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Spot ethyl acrylate (ethyl-A) prices in Asia may fall by $50-110/tonne (┬36-79/tonne) this week as regional producers start to cut offers to get rid of high inventories, market sources said on Wednesday.

A regional producer and two southeast Asian traders said they were willing to offer spot ethyl-A cargoes at $1,900/tonne on a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis to southeast (SE) Asia and China.

On 2 November, spot ethyl-A prices were assessed at $2,000-2,010/tonne CIF SE Asia, and at $2,000-2,010/tonne CIF CMP (China Main Port), data from ICIS show.

Several regional producers said that they are struggling to control stockpile levels as their key customers from Thailand have not been purchasing cargoes since late September.

Meanwhile, traders are also finding it difficult to even contact their regular customers. ⌠My regular customers say that they are unable to transport out, or sell any of their end-products, hence, they are not interested in buying ethyl-A feedstock, no matter how low the price is at present, said a southeast Asian trader.


MRC

(MRC) -- This year the Russian producers of BOPP films reduced their production. Following the nine months results, the total volume of production made about 74,500 tonnes, according to MRC analysts. In 2010 the total volume of biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films in Russia made 107,800 tonnes. The total capacity for production of BOPP films in Russia by January 1, 2011 had made about 135,000 tonnes.

In Russia, the major producers of BOPP films are Group of companies Biaxplen and CJSC Eurometfilms. Biaxplen, found by the merger of the assets in Kursk, Novokujbyshevsk, Zheleznodorozhnyj and Balakhna, became the largest producer of BOPP films in the Russian market and the fourth in Europe (after Nordenia, ExxonMobil Films and Treofan). After joining the group Novatek-Polymer, the capacities of Biaxplen exceeded the European major producers Radici, Manulli and Innovia Films. Total capacity makes 110,000 tonnes per year.


Evrometfilms has one production site in Stupino (Moscow region), the films are produced at high-speed Bruckner equipment, with the capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year. In September, Biaxplen declared plans to mount another production line of BOPP films. The company will invest about Rb2 billion to build another line at Biaxplen NK, Novokujbyshevsk. The supplier of equipment will be the German Bruckner Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. After the introduction of a new line with capacity of 30,500 tonnes of film per year, the output at Novokuibyshevsk plant will increase by twice.

In addition, a new line will be more technical than the previous one. Three of the five extruders, providing feed material for the inner layers of BOPP film, will be twin-screw, which will give some advantages in production of complex films, such as labelling and white pearl. This will provide excellent optical properties of gloss, whiteness index, opaque. Also, this technical solution will provide higher levels of barrier properties of metallized films.


Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helpa them to compete with imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers' presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.

MRC

(Braskem) -- Global Housing, DuPont and Braskem have established an unprecedented partnership to launch a new concept for the commercial and residential construction market in Brazil. Dubbed Concrete PVC House, this technology represents a fast and innovative way to build a variety of high-quality constructions on an industrial scale, with reduced usage of water and wood and minimum waste of materials.

The beauty of this system is the versatility that it brings, allowing methods used in simpler constructions to be applied to much more complex construction projects, such as hospitals, creches, schools, community centers and warehouses.

Other innovative features are: the speed of construction, which makes it possible to put up a completely finished house in one week (traditional methods take at least 90 days); durability; immunity against bacteria and fungus; ease of cleaning and conserving; and low maintenance. Also, specialized labor is not necessary for the construction. Due to these factors, the project aims to contribute to the reurbanization of several cities, both in Brazil and worldwide.

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- PVC recycling in the UK is continuing to increase, with more than 50,000 tonnes of material expected to be recycled by the end of 2011, according to Recovinyl (Brussels / Belgium), the PVC industry's recycling initiative. Jane Gardner, of Axion Consulting (Bramhall, Stockport), Recovinyl's UK agent, said the PVC industry's recycling initiative is expected to exceed the 49,343 t of post-consumer PVC recycled last year in the UK through its 26 specialist recyclers.

Speaking at a recent recycling seminar organised by the British Plastics Federation, Gardner said that Recovinyl is now positioned strongly to build on its ⌠Vinyl 2010 achievements and co-ordinate delivery of fresh targets up to 2020 under the new ⌠Vinyl Plus voluntary commitment.

Recovinyl has gone above and beyond its original recycling targets. These targets include 800,000 t to be re-used in all European countries by 2020 - with 700,000 t mechanically recycled and the remainder through new technologies for more difficult-to-recycle or contaminated PVC. ⌠

MRC