Dow changes its business structure

(Dow) -- The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) today announced business structure and leadership changes to continue driving the Company's transformation.

Jim Fitterling, senior vice president of Corporate Development, has been named president of Plastics and Hydrocarbons and an executive vice president of Dow. He will continue to be based in Midland, Michigan.

Juan Luciano, senior vice president of Basic Plastics, Hydrocarbons & Energy & JVs, has been named president of the Performance Division, which will consist of Dow's Performance Products and Performance Systems divisions, and an executive vice president of Dow. He will continue to be based in Midland, Michigan.

Jerome Peribere will continue in his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer of Dow's Advanced Materials Division. In addition he has been named an executive vice president of Dow. Peribere will continue to be based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Carol Williams, senior vice president of Basic Chemicals, has been named president of the Chemicals and Energy Division and a group senior vice president of Dow, adding the Energy business to her responsibilities. Williams will continue to be based in Midland, Michigan.

Heinz Haller, executive vice president of Performance Systems and Marketing and Sales, has been named Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for corporate Marketing & Sales and all Dow new business growth activities including Joint Ventures and subsidiaries in new business areas. He will serve as Dow's lead representative for Dow Corning and Dow Kokam, and will continue oversight of Dow AgroSciences, Asia Pacific and the Company's new Olympics Business Unit. Haller will also add oversight of Dow's presence in Latin America, and will continue to be based in Midland, Michigan.

Jim McIlvenny, senior vice president of Performance Products, has been named group senior vice president of mega projects and of Dow. McIlvenny will have full responsibility for Dow's mega projects, including the Company's proposed joint venture to build a world-scale integrated manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, and the proposed Yulin Integrated Chemicals project in China. These critical-to-Dow projects will be the foundations and enablers for our emerging markets and geographic growth. McIlvenny will continue to be based in Midland, Michigan.

MRC

MRC Reference

Share in the Russian market, 2008:

polyethylene - 2.5% (including LLDPE - 33.1%);

polypropylene - 0.8% (including PP-impact - 1.1%);

polystyrene - 2.6%.

Annual sales growth in Russia, recent 5 years:

polyethylene - 55%;

polypropylene - 28%;

polystyrene - 2%.

Imports by processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

sheet extrusion;

foaming.

(prw) -- Pannunion, the Hungarian plastics packaging group, is raising its rigid polypropylene and polystyrene film manufacturing capacity by 25% with the addition of new extrusion equipment.

As part of a ┬3.5m development and investment programme aimed at expanding and modernising its technology, Pannunion signed an eight-month loan agreement for more than ┬427,000 in March to fund the project.

The group's main subsidiary Pannunion Packaging Plc. already has an overall PP/PS film production capacity of 12,000 tpa at its plant in Szombathely, Hungary. The facility manufactures a range of mono layer and coextruded film products offering the market combinations up to seven layers in thickness.

MRC

(TradingMarkets) -- BASF SE, the world's biggest chemical company, announced yesterday that it would set up a dispersion plant in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, as part of a planned expansion in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.

The plant will make XSB dispersions for papermaking and acrylic dispersions used in coating, construction, printing, packaging, and adhesives, with a production capacity of 100,000 tons a year. The plant will procure raw materials from local companies to shore up the key BASF partners in the fastest-growing consumer market in Asia.

The company expects to put the new plant into production in the first quarter of 2012, but the detailed timetable will depend on government approval. The investment, according to the Germany-based company, is part of a development strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, which targets doubled sales revenue by 2020.

MRCMRC Reference

BASF. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PS - 9.1% (GPPS - 5.9%, ABS - 11.4%, EPS - 10.6%).

Annual sales growth in Russia over the 5 years:
PS - 15%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
foaming;
injection molding

(prw) -- Germany-based Farmar is planning to set up a plant for production of disposable syringes in Russia's Siberian Omsk region.

According to company CEO Jan Kostshevsky, the new plant will have capacity to produce up to 150 million disposable syringes each year and will compete with Chinese producers. Financial details were not disclosed.

Most of the syringes produced at the site will be sold within Omsk (where demand for syringes is estimated at between 33-35 million a year) and neighbouring regions.

The construction of the new plant is part of a major project being planned for Siberia, which aims to establish of an industrial cluster for production of medical equipment.

A PP resins plant at Omsk, which is scheduled to be launched later this year, is expected to provide raw materials for the Farmar facility.

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- Advanced composites producer Gurit has expanded its position in the materials market for rotor blades built using infusion technology through the introduction of the ⌠PVCell G-Foam family of structural foams. Developed and produced by Gurit's subsidiary in Qingdao / China, the range is used in the manufacture of wind turbine rotor blades for the local Chinese market where PVC foams are widely employed.

Development was originally started by China Techno Foam, which was acquired by Gurit in 2009. The development of the first material grade (G60 - 60 kg/m3) was completed by the end of 2009, and the material was successfully introduced to the market in spring. ⌠PVCell G60 is tested and fully qualified by classification agency Germanischer Lloyd. The development of additional grades G45, G80, G100, G130 and G200 has now been completed.

MRC