Faurecia plans to thrive in North America auto market

(europeanplasticsnews) -- Faurecia, a major French supplier of seats, interiors, exhaust systems and exterior parts, is angling for a much bigger share of North American sales.

CEO Yann Delabriere, 61, is counting on strong sales to German automakers, along with fast-growing demand for luxury components, diesel exhaust systems for commercial trucks, and parts for global vehicles such as the Ford Focus and Fiesta to fuel his company's market share growth.

In fact, Delabriere predicts that Faurecia, which ranks No. 9 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 suppliers to North America, will move up to No. 5.

Faurecia sales in North America were up almost 30% for the first nine months, and the fourth quarter could be even better.

Delabriere said: "We have said that we need to build 60 new plants or major expansions of existing plants worldwide through 2015. We already have 42 projects under way. We will spend EUR 2.3bn through 2015."

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- Petchem and polyolefins producers using naphtha and based in Europe and Northeast Asia witnessed a decrease of revenues in Q4 of the previous year.

Producers started to lose margins in Q3, but a larger decrease was observed in October-December.

The situation partially resulted from a high destocking activity towards the end of the year. The overall economic instability and a cautious behaviour of buyers on the back of a bleak economic outlook also impacted the situation.

MRC

(BYMNews) -- Effective 6th February 2012, Scott Bader Europe is increasing the price for its range of Crystic polyester, DCPD based and Vinyl ester resins by EUR100/tonne. Crystic gelcoats, Crestapol resins and Crestomer adhesives will also increase by EUR100/tonne.
Pigmented gelcoats and resins will increase by a minimum of EUR120/tonne with pigment pastes increasing by a minimum of EUR150/tonne. New prices will be applied to orders invoiced or delivered on or after this date subject to existing customer contracts.

This price increase is in response to continued rises in the costs of key oil based feedstock raw materials required for the manufacture of UPR resins, plus further rises in titanium dioxide.

MRC

(Arkema) -- As part of a drive to optimize its functional polyolefin range, Arkema announces that it is to discontinue its Evatane 33-15 (High Content Ethylene - Vinyl Acetate Copolymers) and Lotryl 14MG02 (Ethylene - Acrylate Copolymers) grades.


This withdrawal is part of a rationalization program to be completed in 2012 designed to shorten production wheel and reduce inventories of finished products, while delivering even better customer service.

In the past three years Arkema has sought to methodically optimize its Evatane, Lotryl and Orevac T (Ethylene - Vinyl Acetate and Maleic Anhydride Terpolymers) ranges, and to channel its sales towards higher added value grades.

Marketed under the tradenames Evatane, Lotryl, Lotader and Orevac, Arkema's Functional Polyolefins are used in wide-ranging industrial applications, including hotmelt adhesives, cables, multilayer packaging films, technical polymer modification, solar panels, petroleum additives, bitumens and inks.

MRC

(Arkema) -- As a supplier of PVDF-based fluorinated films used in the manufacture of photovoltaic panels, Arkema filed a complaint for patent infringement with the Central District Court of Seoul against the South Korean company SKC on November 30 2011. This claim is based on Arkema's patent KR 1016933 granted on February 16 2011 by the Korean Patent Office.
A global chemical company and France's leading chemicals producer, Arkema produces specialty chemicals that provide customers with practical solutions to such challenges as climate change, access to drinking water, the future of energy, fossil fuel preservation and the need for lighter materials. With operations in more than 40 countries, 15,700 employees and 9 research centers, Arkema generates annual revenue of ┬5.9 billion.

MRC