Formosa's compensation offer accepted

(plastemart) -- Residents in the vicinity of Formosa Plastics Group's naphtha cracker in Mailiao, Yunlin County, have accepted the company's compensation offer at a meeting chaired by the county government.

The residents of Mailiao and of nearby Taihsi accepted FPG's offer to compensate for the damage from the fire to their crops and fish. The county government's agriculture department is to prepare the application procedure and other necessary measures to ease the payments by the company. Yunlin County Magistrate has agreed to the compensation amount at a meeting with FPG top managers, but local residents maintained their demand for a NT$30,000 (US$939) work safety payment per person.

MRCMRC Reference

Formosa

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC-S - 3.0%;

PP - 0.4%.

Annual growth sales in Russia :
PVC - 79 % (over the last year) ;

PP - 272 % (over the last 3 years).

Supply by processing technologies:
profile extrusion

film extrusion

(prw) -- Italian roofing insulation specialist Freudenberg Politex has invested $1.6m to install a new geotextile nonwovens line at its plant in Zavolzhie, in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region.

The plant's second line, producing material for the firm's Drenotex' geotextile products to a capacity of more than 3,000 tpa, began operating in July 2010. At the same time, the Novedrate, Italy-based firm has increased its local workforce by 10.

The line, which uses raw material from post-consumer PET waste, recycled by Freudenberg Politex, turns out material 6 metres wide in a range of 100g/m2 to 800g/m2. This fabric is destined to be used as geotextile for various construction and hydraulic engineering applications such as road reinforcement, ground drainage and for an anti-contamination layer in waste landfill sites, the company stated.

MRC

(Sabic) -- Lighting manufacturer Osram approached Sabic when looking for a new material for its new line of compact fluorescent light (CFL) light bulbs.
Osram selected Sabic's LXD PC resin for the new bulbs, which offer a longer life and 80% lower energy consumption than conventional incandescent bulbs.

Martin Bachler, head of marketing at Osram, said: ⌠We knew Sabic offered the best and broadest portfolio of resins for lighting applications. Not only did Sabic develop a specialised grade of Lexan that met all our requirements for aesthetics and performance, they also provided 10 custom colour choices.

A 20watt CFL delivers the same output as a 100W incandescent and lasts 20 times longer.

MRC

MRC Reference

Sabic. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 0.2%;
PP - 0.4%;
PS - 0.2%.

Annual sales growth in Russia over the last 5 years:
PE - 33%;
PP - 62%.

(plastemart) -- Spanish PET producer La Seda de Barcelona SA plans to halve its PET capacity by disposing off non-core polymer and raw material plants in Italy, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Spain as part of a radical restructuring plan. The vertically integrated group that saw rapid growth with a series of major European acquisitions has decided to hive off non-strategic operations, sell excess land and reduce overall workforce by another 300 to adjust to the planned reduced PET capacity. With this, the company will reposition itself as a leading PET solutions company, and focus largely on its PET packaging business. The company has started to negotiate layoffs at its PET and raw material plants at El Prat de Llobregat and Tarragona in Spain. Plans are being considered to close its PET plant at La Roque, Spain unless it gets agreement to a plan to a "considerable reduction in labor costs" as well as savings in the cost of raw materials and energy to ensure its future viability. This plant faces mounting competition from the Middle East.

MRC

(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.