JV of Dow Chemical and Mitsui & Co to take all regulatory hurdles

(PlastEurope) -- The 50:50 biopolymers joint venture of Dow Chemical and Mitsui & Co, for which a memorandum of understanding was signed in July 2011, has taken all regulatory hurdles. The deal sees Mitsui taking a 50% interest in Dow's sugarcane-to-ethanol plant in Santa Vitoria, Minas Gerais / Brazil that will provide renewable feedstock for the plastics.

Dow said engineering work on the Brazilian facility, along with equipment manufacture, accelerated in the third quarter of 2011 and is ⌠proceeding according to schedule. Start-up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2013.

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 helps them to compete 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

(ICIS) -- Brazil's Braskem swung to a third-quarter loss of reais (R) 1.05bn ($588m, ┬435m) because of currency fluctuations, the company said on Thursday. Braskem reported earnings of R532m ($298m, ┬221m) in the third quarter of 2010. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped 9% to R940m from R1.04bn in the third quarter of 2010.
⌠The effect of the 19% devaluation of the real on Braskem's net dollar exposure had a negative impact of R1.6bn on the [third quarter] financial result, the company said. Meanwhile, net revenue increased to R8.7bn from R7.5bn, Braskem added. Financial losses amounted to R2.1bn, compared with a gain of R180m in the same period last year, the company added.

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 helps them to compete 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

(ICIS) -- Spot butadiene rubber (BR) prices in Asia may continue to nosedive after shedding about $1,000/tonne (┬740/tonne) from early October, tracking the decline in values of natural rubber (NR) and feedstock butadiene (BD), industry sources said on Friday. BR prices fell below $3,000/tonne this week, and were assessed at $2,800-3,000/tonne CFR (cost and freight) northeast (NE) Asia on 10 November, according to ICIS data.

On Thursday, NR prices slumped by more than $600/tonne from the start of the month, falling below $3,200/tonne, according to the Malaysian Rubber Board. Asian prices of BD, the feedstock for BR production, meanwhile, plummeted by about $900/tonne from early October to around $1,550/tonne CFR NE Asia on 4 November, according to ICIS data.

In the domestic Chinese market, spot BR values fell by more than yuan (CNY) 9,000 over the past month to around CNY 22,000 this week, market sources said. Weak demand given worries over the ongoing eurozone debt crisis and the floodings in Thailand also contributes to the slumping BR prices, market sources said.

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 helps them to compete 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

(ICIS) -- Iran's Petrochemical Commercial Co (PCC) is planning to more than halve its orthoxylene (OX) exports in 2012 on more attractive domestic prices, a company source said on Thursday.
⌠We are planning to export around 15,000-16,000 tonnes of OX next year, the source said, adding that the company has exported around 34,000 tonnes of material over the past 10 months.
⌠Domestic prices have been higher than exports so that is why we are planning to sell more within Iran, the source said, but decline further comments when asked for details on the domestic settlement method and price.

PCC has a long-term contract to supply OX to South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation and various Chinese and Indian phthalic anhydride (PA) makers in 2011. Supply of OX is expected to remain tight going into 2012 on the back of previous cutbacks in operating rates at regional facilities. Demand for shipments have also been poor over the last two quarters because of squeezed PA margins.

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 helps them to compete 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

(BASF) -- BASF has been producing caprolactam using a large-scale continuous process at Ludwigshafen for half a century now. During this time around 6.5 million tons of the polyamide 6 intermediate have left the site. ⌠We have constantly improved the production process and expanded the capacity during continuous operation over the past 50 years without major total plant shutdowns. This demonstrates the strong competence of the production team and the advantage of operating a highly complex technology within an integrated structure (Verbund), comments Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President of the global business unit Polyamide and Intermediates. With two more plants at Antwerp, Belgium, and Freeport Texas, USA, and a total production capacity of 800,000 tons per year, BASF today is the world's largest manufacturer of caprolactam.

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 helps them to compete 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