Reichhold announces price increase in North America


(jeccomposites) -- Reichhold, Inc. announced a price increase today of USD0.06 per pound on all unsaturated polyester resins, vinyl ester resins and flame retardant resins sold in North America for the composites industry. This increase is effective for all orders shipped on or after March 15th.

Bill Schramm, Vice-President Commercial North American Composites, stated "Persistent escalation of raw material prices and a limited supply of some raw materials continue to increase our costs, leaving us no choice but to raise our prices. Raw material costs are expected to rise continually through the first quarter primarily as the result of numerous planned outages and increased demand.
Crude oil continues to trade over USD100 per barrel and the cost spread between oil and natural gas continues to favor the latter which yields less propylene available for conversion to many composites raw materials. We continue to aggressively work with our suppliers to mitigate these increases and appreciate the understanding of our customers as we continue to do everything possible to limit the impact of rising costs and limited raw material availability upon product pricing and supply."

MRC

Styrolution ups Ineos ABS stake to 87% in open offer

(vccircle) -- Styrolution, a global joint venture between chemical giants INEOS and BASF, has acquired 4 per cent additional stake in the open offer for Ineos ABS India Ltd for Rs 42 crore (over USD8 million). The parent company now owns 87 per cent in INEOS ABS and will either have to eventually dilute its holding to meet minimum public listing norms of 25 per cent or come up with a delisting offer.


According to current listing norms, promoters either need to dilute their holdings to less than 75 per cent in public-listed companies or raise their holdings to above 90 per cent to delist from the stock exchange.
Styrolution was formed nearly a year ago when INEOS Industries Holdings Ltd and BASF SE announced their intention to combine their global business activities in styrene monomers, polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, styrene-butadiene block copolymers and other styrene-based copolymers, as well as copolymer blends, into a new joint venture.
The company serves a wide range of industries including automotive, electrical and electronics, 3C, packaging, toys, sports & leisure, household, building & construction, and healthcare & diagnostics. It has production facilities and sales offices in Germany, Italy, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea and India.
INEOS held 83 per cent stake in its public-listed Indian arm and had to come with the mandatory open offer for minority shareholders as part of the global change in the parent company. Styrolution made the offer to buy 16.67 per cent in INEOS ABS India which it did not own, but managed to acquire only 4 per cent or 703,075 shares at the offer price of Rs 606.81 a piece.

MRC

BASF concentrates on alternatives to lead chromate pigments

(basf) -- BASF is going to stop producing lead chromate pigments by the end of 2014 at the latest and concentrate worldwide on the production and marketing of alternative products. These are offered by the company for the yellow as well as the red color range. They include pigments sold under the brand names of Sicopal, Sicotan, Paliotan, T-Shade, Paliotol, Paliogen, Cromophtal, Irgalite, Cinquasia and Irgazin.

⌠We have for years been in the possession of a large portfolio of organic and inorganic pigments that represent excellent alternatives to lead chromate pigments⌠, says Stefan Sutterlin, head of the business management pigments of BASF in Europe. As, however, a one-hundred-percent substitution for lead-containing pigments does not exist, customers above all from the coatings industry have so far resisted change. ⌠We are going to assist our customers, if they want us to, with the change-over⌠, explains Joachim Straner, head of marketing for pigments for industrial & decorative coatings of BASF in Europe. ⌠This means that we will help them plan their exit strategy, agree on the quantities that are to be phased out and the technical changeover, continues Straner.

BASF is one of the largest pigment producers worldwide and has a virtually unique product and technology portfolio. One of the oldest product groups is lead chromates which, due to their properties such as weather fastness and color strength, have been in great demand. Recently, the process for approval prescribed under the European chemicals regulation REACH concerning these substances has been started. Hence, from May 2015, it will no longer be permitted to put into circulation lead chromate pigments without approval by the authorities.

BASF produces lead chromate pigments exclusively on its site in Besigheim/Germany. This is where the future production of alternative products will gradually be developed and expanded.

MRC

DuPont: price increase in Europe for Elvax EVA copolymer resins

(plasticker) -- DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers is announcing a price increase of Euro 0.15/kg on all grades of DuPont Elvax EVA copolymers in the region Europe, Middle East and Africa. This increase is effective March 1st, 2012 or as contracts allow.

DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers is a world-class manufacturer of high-performance resins and films for a variety of packaging and industrial applications. Its best known ethylene copolymer products include DuPont Surlyn resins for packaging and industrial applications, Bynel coextrudable adhesives, Selar PA amorphous polyamide barrier resins, Nucrel acid copolymers, Elvax EVA copolymers, Elvaloy , Elvaloy AC, Entira and Fusabond modifiers.

MRC

Russia's Gazprom fully restores Europe gas flows


(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Russia has fully restored natural gas shipments to Europe, the country's state gas firm said Monday, after it had been unable to meet rising demand in recent weeks due to cold weather across the continent. Europe relies on Russia for over a quarter of its gas needs.

Russia has fully restored natural gas shipments to Europe, the country's state gas firm said Monday, after it had been unable to meet rising demand in recent weeks due to cold weather across the continent.

"Gazprom has restored in full natural gas supplies to cover demand of European customers," said deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev of Russia's state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom in a statement.

Europe relies on Russia for over a quarter of its gas needs, but supplies have been curtailed since late January as particularly cold winter weather increased Russia's domestic demand and Gazprom failed to increase production to meet the higher demand.


MRC