Hungary's authorities race to protect against second spill

LONDON (ICIS) -- Emergency services are racing to complete the building of an emergency dam to contain a possible second spill of red caustic sludge from a damaged reservoir that broke last week flooding several towns in western Hungary, media reports said on Monday.

Authorities have been working to finish a protective wall being built across the fields just below the reservoir, after a widening of the cracks was spotted.

A state of emergency was declared on Tuesday last week in Hungary's three western counties of Veszprem, Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Vas after some 600,000-700,000m3 of sludge escaped from an alumina plant at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in the town of Ajka, affecting an area of 40km2.

mrcplast.com

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Suppliers of polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) in Asia raised their offers by at least $50/tonne (┬36/tonne) this week, in line with the increase in feedstock costs, market sources said on Tuesday.

Prices quotes for general-purpose PS were at above $1,350/tonne CFR (cost and freight) China, while offers for high-impact (HI) PS stood at $1,500/tonne CFR China. For ABS, offers were heard mostly at above $2,000/tonne CFR NE Asia, traders said.

The holidays in China over the past weeks had slowed down production at factories. Ramping up of production at factories was expected from mid-October, with the busy manufacturing activities possibly lasting into November, market sources said.

PS resins are used in packaging, utensils, toys and consumer electronics. ABS is used for office equipment, consumer electronics, toys and automotives.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Japanese ethylene production has fallen by 12.1% to 557,100 tons in September 2010 vs 633,500 tons September 2009.

This is partly due to the scheduled plant maintenance shutdown at a naphtha cracker. Output in September 2010 was down 7.3% from 600,700 tons in August.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- In a bid to capitalise on the single-market Asean Economic Community in 2015, Thailand's PTT plans to move more aggressively in expanding its existing businesses in ASEAN countries.

The AEC, with a population of 580 million, promises huge investment and trade potential.

PTT aims to boost the non-oil business in the domestic retail market from 10% of total profit to 50% within 5 years. Exports have commenced to test the market in countries such as Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as southern China.

MRC

(European Plastics News) -- Chemical giant BASF is terminating its Envirocare oxodegradable additive business, which it acquired through its purchase of Ciba last year, to focus on products which comply with European standard EN 13432.

Envirocare was part of the Ciba range and was used to manufacture degradable polyethylene mulch films for agricultural applications.

⌠BASF has opted for biodegradable plastics that are fully biodegradable and compostable in accordance with standards such as European norm EN 13432, spokesperson Jurgen Keck said in a statement.

BASF will instead focus on its Ecoflex and Ecovio biodegradable plastics and is expanding capacity at an Ecoflex plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, by 60,000 tonnes.

MRC