Braskem Americas reports boiler failure at Texas PP plant

(braskem) --Braskem Americas reported emissions resulting from a boiler failure at its polypropylene (PP) plant in LaPorte, Texas, according to a government filing available on Monday.

A temporary boiler that was replacing the plant's C boiler during maintenance failed, causing a loss of steam to the B flare, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).


The loss of steam resulted in the flare smoking intermittently for about an hour, the filing states. All emissions were either recovered or sent to a flare for destruction, according to the filing.

It was not clear whether the unit had been restarted, or whether there was any lost production at the plant. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Braskem Americas operates a 390,000 tonne/year PP plant at the facility.

MRC

(vestolit) -- The German company Vestolit announced increases in its Europe PVC prices of EUR90/tonne for paste applications and EUR100/tonne for thermoplastic applications effective from 1 February, a company source said on Monday.

The increasing trend for the procurement of raw materials to manufacture PVC products could not be compensated adequately in the past few months and now leads to a price adjustment for paste and thermoplastic products, said company in the press-release.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- China lost the most share of US year-to-date dollar textile imports as of November, off .45 percentage points compared to a year ago, according to data released by The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA).

Mexico and Canada were next, each down .1 percentage points. India and Vietnam have gained the biggest shares so far this year, at .7 and .4 percentage points, respectively.

Vietnam has also enjoyed the biggest increase in textile square meter equivalent unit volume to the U.S. so far this year.

MRC

(trevira) -- Trevira, a manufacturer of hi-tech polyester fibres and filaments, will reorganise all of its filament yarn production by moving to a new facility later this year. The company plans to improve its production and marketing efficiencies by transferring its texturizing capacity from Zielona Gora, in Poland, to Guben, in Germany, where it already has production facilities.
According to Trevira, the reorganisation is expected to enable the business to lower its cost structure and serve customers more efficiently.


The move is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Last year, Trevira was acquired by the consortium of Indorama Ventures (Thailand) and Sinterama (Italy) in a deal that was finalised on July 1. The main focus of the transaction was to facilitate the expansion of the business in the speciality fibres and filament yarn sectors.

MRC

(tribune) -- The company saw its profit margins decline to such an extent that it posted a loss of Rs411 million in the final quarter, almost triple the losses estimated by analysts. Net profit fell 8% to Rs4.18 billion in 2011 compared with Rs4.53 billion in 2010, according to a notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange.


The company's overall gross margin declined by 5 percentage points to 12% against 17% last year.
Lotte Pakistan PTA is a supplier of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), an essential raw material used in the polyester industry.

PTA is sold to the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) sector while the rest goes to polyester staple fibre and other sectors. PET is used in the plastics industry for the production of bottles and bed sheets.


Moreover, the company maintained its dividend payout of Rs0.50 per share. The company's stock price fell Rs0.82 - near its lower limit of the day - to close at Rs8.8 during trade at the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Net sales rose 36% to Rs57.6 billion in 2011 against Rs42.4 billion in the preceding year. Other income plummeted by 117% to Rs22.9 million in 2011, which was expected from lower cash balance.

MRC