Perstorp is unable to fully meet contractual obligations

(chemmonitor) -- The Sweden-headquartered firm Perstorp was forced to provisionally suspend activity at one of its manufacturing units.

The facility produces chlor-alkali. The closure resulted from a strike at the plant. Shutdown of the unit affected manufacturing rates at the downstream toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) facility.

On 4 February, Perstorp was forced to stop production at its chlor-alkali unit because of the strike and this impacted on its downstream TDI facility.

As a result, availability for its chlor-alkali and TDI products will be limited. TDI supplies are under strict allocation with immediate effect, with a minimum 50% reduction on contractual commitments.

A company source added that there are also allocations of up to 90% for its chlor-alkali products.
The specialty chemical company is trying to minimise any impact on its customers through alternative sourcing, optimisation of stocks and order management.

Perstorp's nameplate capacity at the site is 126,000 tonnes/year for TDI and 170,000 tonnes/year for chlorine.

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- A new manufacturing unit is to appear in Zhangjiagang (China). The plant will generate propylene from propane.

Its nameplate capacity will be 1.2 million tonnes per year. Oriental Energy, a local maker, will operate the manufacturing facility.

The project has recently obtained permission from environmental authorities.

UOP (USA) was selected to provide production technology to the plant. The technology is based on dehydrogenation.

The parties inked a contract. Financial details were not revealed.

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- A new polypropylene (PP) production unit is expected to initiate activity in November-December of this year. The unit is situated in Mangalore (India).

Mangalore Refinery, a local, maker owns the plant. The maker initially intended to open the manufacturing unit by July 2012, but decided to postpone the startup.

However, the company did not explain its decision. The facility will generate up to 0.44 million tonnes per year.

Mangalore Refinery is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1998. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city.

MRPL has a design capacity to process 11.82 million metric tonnes per annum and is the only Refinery in India to have 2 Hydrocrackers producing Premium Diesel (High Cetane). It is also the only Refinery in India to have 2 CCRs producing Unleaded Petrol of High Octane.

MRC

(kemira) -- Kemira Oyj publishes its financial statement bulletin enclosed to stock exchange release.

Kemira reported on Wednesday a 50.6% year-on-year increase in its net profit to EUR37.8m (USD50.4m) in the fourth quarter of last year, despite a surge in raw materials prices.
The firm's revenues slipped by 0.6% year on year to EUR543.3m, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.81% to EUR65.9m, the company said in a statement.

⌠Raw material prices increased rapidly in the beginning of the year, it said.
⌠The prices for some of our key raw materials have continued to increase during the second half of the year and are still at a very high level, the company added.
The firm's net profit fell to EUR140.3m in the full year of 2011, compared with EUR646.9m in the same period a year earlier, the firm said.

MRC

(dow) -- Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company , and BioDuro, a PPD Company, announced a three-year, multi-program discovery research agreement to generate novel molecules for synthesizing and testing fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides across a variety of crops.

The two companies will leverage BioDuro's deep expertise in medicinal chemistry and biochemistry and Dow AgroSciences' agrochemical capabilities in this new agrochemical discovery collaboration.

"We are very pleased to announce this novel collaboration between Dow AgroSciences and BioDuro, a respected leader in discovery services," said Daniel R. Kittle, Ph.D., Global Leader, Research & Development, Dow AgroSciences.
"This agreement is another example of our commitment to further enhance Dow AgroSciences' world-class discovery research capabilities by working with the best research teams around the globe to develop new solutions for our customers around the world."

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

MRC