Offers for European and northeast Asian TDI cargoes have been raised

In addition, persistently weak domestic markets in Europe and northeast Asia placed pressure on TDI producers in these regions to offload their products in the import-dependent Middle East and Africa markets, they added.

⌠TDI prices have been on the downtrend for the past few months, while upstream toluene prices are still holding quite firm. As a result, our margins have fallen so much that we are bleeding. In October and November, we have no choice but to reduce operating rates, a European TDI maker said.
European and northeast Asian producers are operating TDI plants at an average of 80-90% of capacity, with some running at minimum rates in October and November, sources close to the producers said.

Another global major based in Germany and a European maker offered January lots at USD2,550/tonne CFR Middle East/Africa, market players said. A South Korean producer offered January shipments at USD2,450/tonne CFR GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)/North Africa, while another South Korean maker has no material to offer because of the ongoing shutdown at its TDI facilities. A Japanese maker raised its January offers by USD100-150/tonne to USD2,550/tonne CFR GCC/Africa, after concluding business at USD2,400-2,450/tonne last week.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Westlake Chemical is increasing the capacity of its planned chlor-alkali facility at Geismar, Louisiana, to 350,000 electrochemical units (ECU)/year, up by 40% from the originally announced 250,000 ECU/year, the US-based producer said on Wednesday.

Site work for the new facility is currently underway and the project is targeted for start-up in the second half of 2013, the company said.

Westlake estimates the project's construction costs at USD370m to USD420m (EUR281m to EUR319m). In 2008, when Westlake announced the original project, it estimated costs at USD250m to USD300m.

⌠This new plant is consistent with Westlake's vertical integration strategy for its vinyls business and will allow the company to expand and optimise the vinyls chain over time, the company said in a statement. Westlake is building the unit adjacent to its existing vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride.

MRC

(ICIS) -- South Korea's export growth is expected to slow down in 2011 and 2012 because of uncertainty in the key China market, the eurozone debt crisis and the bearish economic outlook in the US, an analyst said on Thursday. South Korea's petrochemical exports for November grew by 10.9% year on year to USD3.5bn (EUR2.7bn) on higher prices, said Eungju Lee, a petrochemical industry analyst at Seoul-based Shinhan Investment Corp.

The country's volume of overseas shipments of most petrochemical products in November increased on a year-on-year basis, data from Korea International Trade Association (KITA) showed.
⌠The major factor for the trade value increase is because of an increase in overall prices and higher oil prices, Lee said. For aromatics, the exports of benzene rose by 1%, while toluene shipments more than doubled to 78,829 tonnes.

South Korea's outbound shipments of propylene surged by 74.4%, while its exports of ethylene increased by 17.47%, the data showed.

Paraxylene (PX) exports firmed by 68.2% to 182,371 tonnes, but the country's exports of naphtha fell by 11.67%.

South Korea's total exports remained resilient amid a worsening global financial crisis, recording a 13.8% year-on-year increase to USD47bn because of strong growth for major export items, according to data released from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

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Fina Antwerp Olefins, in which Total currently has a 65% interest, was set up in Antwerp in 1951. This plant is the second largest in Europe for the production of base chemicals products, including ethylene, propylene and benzene. Some of the plant's output is used by Group units in particular in both Antwerp and Feluy to manufacture polymers.

With this acquisition, Total consolidates its position in the Antwerp platform, which also houses the refinery Total Raffinaderij Antwerpen and the polyethylene plant Total Petrochemicals Antwerpen. The acquisition will open new opportunities to strengthen the competitiveness of the assets and to pursue integration which is one of the foundations of Total's strategy.

Total Petrochemicals is one of the world's largest petrochemicals producers. Its business includes base petrochemicals from steam crackers and certain refinery processing plants - olefins (ethylene, propylene), C4 fractions and aromatics (benzene, toluene, xylene and styrene) -, as well as the commodity polymers derived from them (polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene). Total Petrochemicals employs about 6,000 persons in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. Its products are used in many consumer and industrial markets, including packaging, construction and automotive.

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(Masterflex) -- Following intensive preparations, the Masterflex Group is now starting its expansion into Asia. The Asian lead company Masterflex Asia Pte Ltd is currently in the process of being established in the city-state of Singapore. Another subsidiary is also being set in motion near Shanghai in China. While the operation in Singapore will focus on the expansion of distribution in the region, as well as the management of all business in Asia, plans for China also include production from 2012 onwards.

With this move to the East, Masterflex, the global specialist for hoses made from high-tech plastics, is driving its growth strategy forwards. "In Asia, and particularly in China, we see a potential for our hose and connector systems in the medium and long term", says Dr Andreas Bastin, Group CEO. "Alongside our wide range of products for industrial applications, such as in mechanical and plant engineering, our solutions for the medical as well as food technological expertise for applications in the aviation and automotive industries are in increasing demand on the Asian markets."

After the successful expansion in Brazil and Russia in 2010, this step means that Masterflex will serve all four BRIC countries in future. Bastin adds: "With an annual growth forecast of 8%, the BRIC countries hold much greater growth potential than Europe and North America. That is something that we cannot ignore, nor do we have any intention of doing so."

The move into Asia was preceded by intensive preparations in terms of market research. As Bastin explains, "We spent more than a year analysing market data and competitors, holding extensive talks with existing or potential customers from Asia, conducting research in the field, visiting trade fairs and speaking to German SMEs with a presence in the area - not least to avoid teething problems as best we can. And now it's all happening."

Some Masterflex customers from Europe and North America have production facilities in the region. There is also an array of potential new customers, including both companies from the West and Chinese manufacturers that wish to export their products and are therefore very interested in high-quality connector elements.

MRC