India's SPL reports net loss of Rs 7.25 crore for Q4

(Plastemart) -- Leading Indian polystyrene producer Supreme Petrochem (SPL) has reported a net loss of Rs 7.25 crore for the quarter ended December 31 amid higher cost of inputs and lower demand for end products.

A profit of Rs 15.85 crore was reported by SPL in the same period last year. SPL's total sales for the quarter rose to Rs 499.52 crore from Rs 456.7 crore in the corresponding period last year.

"High input costs, shrinking domestic market due to low demand for end products including household appliances, sluggish export market as a consequence of economic slowdown and political unrest and volatile foreign exchange rates resulted in reduction in overall sales by 11.65 per cent and squeezed margins, adversely impacting the quarterly performance," the company said in a statement here adding it foresees an improvement in the market conditions in the second half of the financial year.

MRC

(INEOS) -- List prices for INEOS ChlorVinyls Suspension PVC grades have been increased by Euro 100 per metric tonne with immediate effect and as contracts allow.

INEOS ChlorVinyls continues to make investments across its manufacturing operations to maintain the highest standards of safety and environmental performance - demonstrating commitment to the 'Responsible Care' philosophy. Company operates large integrated sites that enable to manufacture a large range of products to the highest standards of quality and efficiency.

INEOS ChlorVinyls is one of the major chlor-alkali producers in Europe, a global leader in chlorine derivatives and Europe's largest PVC manufacturer.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Belgian group Deceuninck's sales fell by almost 4 percent in 2011 as gloomier consumers spent less money on its high-tech PVC window frames, it said on Thursday.

"The worldwide economic environment impacted consumer confidence in most regions, this reduced the willingness to invest in insulation improvements in the residential market," Chief Executive Tom Debusschere said in a statement.

In its home country, people were the most pessimistic in January that they have been for two and a half years due to government austerity measures and the financial crisis, data from the central bank showed last week.

Deceuninck's sales decline, however, was less steep than the 20 percent fall it saw in 2009, when the banking crisis was in full swing.

Full-year sales of 536 million euros (USD 695.4 million) were broadly in line with analysts' consensus.

MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's Tosoh Corp, an integrated chemical producer, said on Wednesday it did not know how long it would continue curbing production at its sole 527,000 tonnes per year (tpy) naphtha cracker due to slow ethylene demand.

The company has lowered its runs at the cracker to below 90 percent since sometime in October-December after operating at near full capacity in April-September, a Tosoh spokesman said.

The firm has still not set definite dates for planned maintenance on the cracker, though this has been slated to happen from mid-March to mid-April, he added.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Penford Corporation, a company with significant business and expertise in specialty starches and sustainable bio-products and Novomer Inc., a new materials company pioneering a family of high-performance plastics and polymers using renewable feedstocks such as carbon dioxide, announce that they have entered into a Joint Development Agreement that will leverage the two companies' core technologies and expertise. he new alliance was created to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative Starch-Polypropylene Carbonate polymer composites.


Unmodified starch use has been limited due to inherent performance characteristics but has long been targeted as a cost effective, renewable material for a broad range of packaging applications. When modified, specialty starches can be compatible with other polymers to extend the use and modify the properties of those polymers for targeted uses.

Polypropylene Carbonate (PPC), a thermoplastic polymer composed of nearly 50% by weight of waste CO2, has superior mechanical and barrier properties and a chemical backbone that is compatible and likely synergistic with specialty modified starch. It is anticipated that the creation of starch-PPC composites will yield low cost, environmentally sustainable packaging polymers suitable for the multi-billion dollar global packaging materials market.

MRC