Amcor buys Indian flexible packager Uniglobe

(canplastics) -- In a bid to expand its footprint in India, Australia-based PET packaging supplier Amcor Ltd. has acquired Uniglobe Packaging Private Ltd. for USD20.7 million.

Uniglobe is based 150 km north of Mumbai, and produces flexible packaging for the food, personal care, and health sectors.

Amcor is a global packaging company that manufactures PET containers for beverages, flexible packaging for the food and healthcare markets, tobacco packaging, and corrugated boxes. The company has operations across 30 countries and 89 plants; with this deal, it will increase its facilities in India from three to five plants.

⌠This is an important opportunity to expand Amcor's footprint in the high growth Indian market, said managing director and CEO Ken MacKenzie. "The Uniglobe business comes with a strong management team, and a track record of delivering significant annual sales growth."

The purchase is Amcor's second this month: the company also acquired The Aperio Group, producers of flexible packaging products with 13 manufacturing facilities across Australia and New Zealand.
MRC

(canplastics) -- Not-for-profit industry association the American Chemistry Council (ACC) has turned to Facebook to help consumers learn more about plastics recycling.

The Washington, D.C.-based group's Recycle Your Plastics site is intended to be "an educational community devoted to sharing plastics recycling news and information," the ACC said. "Users can look forward to receiving updates on tips, trends and opportunities in plastics recycling quickly and on a regular basis."

"We've seen a steady increase in opportunities to recycle more plastics over the past several months, and we want to make sure people are aware of these developments, said Steve Russell, the ACC's vice president of plastics. ⌠Facebook is a great way to connect people with information, so that we can all do our part for our communities and the environment. Used plastics are a valuable resource, and it's never been easier to recycle many of the plastics we use every day."

MRC

(newsflanders-chinabe) -- Ford Motor Co opened its fourth passenger vehicle assembly plant in China. The new USD490 million factory in Chongqing will initially produce the latest Focus compact model.

With a yearly output of 150,000 units, it will take the annual capacity of Ford's Chinese passenger vehicle joint venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile, to 600,000 vehicles. The opening of Chongqing Assembly Plant 2 is a crucial step in Ford's stated plan to introduce 15 vehicles to the country by 2015. Ford said Chongqing will become its second-largest manufacturing center in the world by production capacity, after Michigan, once two additional plants under construction are completed next year.

Ford executives say they also plan to expand production at the newly opened Chongqing assembly plant over time. The new facility is able to produce six different kinds of vehicles, including the Focus. Joe Hinrichs, Ford's President for Asia-Pacific and Africa, said production capacity in China will be devoted to the Chinese market. Ford sold 519,390 vehicles in China in 2011, 7% more than the year before. By comparison, Volkswagen's China sales rose 18% to 2.26 million vehicles and GM sales rose 8.3% to 2.55 million.

"We think for the rest of this decade the Chinese market will grow on average about 5%," Hinrichs said. Namrita Chow, Analyst at IHS Automotive, said the new Chongqing plant will give Ford a much-needed lift in a tighter market. "Chinese consumers are moving upwards. They want bigger cars," Chow said. "The interior regions are going to have much more growth, she added. The move to the interior ⌠is Ford's plan because it's really aiming to compete with the big players in China" .

MRC

(chemicals-technology) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is planning to construct an oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex near Baku, Azerbaijan.

The project, which is expected to cost around EUR13bn, is scheduled to start in 2020. SOCAR and the Azerbaijan government will invest 30% into the complex, while the remaining amount will come from private investors.
The complex will have 30 processing plants and a thermal power plant, and will process 10mt of oil and 10bn m? of gas.

SOCAR vice president Tofig Gahramanov was quoted by europeanplasticsnews as saying that the complex will also produce 670,000t of polyethylene and 550,000t of polypropylene. The complex has received interest from companies in Japan, the US, Korea and Italy, according to Gahramanov. SOCAR said the payback period of the project is between six and seven years.

Formed from the merger of Azerneft and Azneftkimiya, SOCAR is involved in the exploration of oil and gas fields, oil and gas production, processing and transportation, and the marketing of petroleum and petrochemical products.

SOCAR has its head office in Baku and representative offices in Bucharest, Frankfurt am Main, Geneva, London, Istanbul, Vienna, Astana and Tehran.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- Retail demand in several emerging markets will grow at double digit annual average rates in the in the five years to 2016 according to a new report by Textiles Intelligence.

The fastest growth will be in China and India, where demand is set rise by an average of 16.9% per annum in
each country. Double digit growth is also forecast for Indonesia (13.3% per annum), Russia (12.0% per annum),
Saudi Arabia (11.7% per annum), Turkey (11.4% per annum), Peru (10.3% per annum) and South Africa (10.1%
per annum), while growth in the high single digits is expected in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Thailand.

By contrast, demand in a number of major Western European countries is set to grow only modestly between
2011 and 2016.

MRC