Shintech to add PVC capacity in Louisiana

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shintech Inc. will add almost 700 million pounds of PVC capacity as part of a USD500 million expansion of its plants in Louisiana, said Plasticsnews.

Shintech's parent firm - Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. of Tokyo - said in a June 19 news release that the firm will addd 660 million pounds of PVC capacity in Louisiana by 2015. Houston-based Shintech makes PVC in Plaquemine and Addis, La.

The project also will include 660 million pounds of new capacity for PVC feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and 440 million pounds of new capacity for caustic soda.

Officials said that Shintech has been expanding its sales in the United States and in emerging markets as well. The company added that the Plaquemine site has been running at capacity.

As MRC wrote before, in 2012 Shintech was the third largest producer in the import of SPVC to Russia.

Shintech was founded in 1974 to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. The catalyst for its current success came in 1976 when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Since then Shintech has completed a series of production capacity expansions that combined aggressive domestic and export business plans with careful analysis of market conditions and customer needs. Currently, Shintech Inc. is the largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the United States.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The polyethylene film recycling working group within the American Chemistry Council expects to see growth in thin film recovery and recycling, said Plasticsnews.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., KW Plastics Recycling, Mil-tek and Verdeco Plastics Inc. have joined the ACC's Flexible Film Recycling Group (FFRG), which already included major chemical and recycling names such as Dow Chemical Co., ExxonMobil Chemical Co., S.C. Johnson and wood-alternative decking company Trex Co. Inc..

Alabama-based KW Plastics is a major recycler and a supplier of plastic one gallon, quart, pint and half-pint containers for the paint and coatings industry. Mil-tek, a Danish company with U.S. operations based in Ashburn, Va., designs and builds balers and other environmentally-friendly recycling and waste disposal equipment. Full-service recycler and reprocessor Verdeco Plastics Inc., out of Channahon, Ill., specializes in the purchase and resale of plastic materials.

FFRG Director Shari Jackson welcomed the new members in a news release: "Their participation in our group will drive growth in plastic film recycling that exceeded 1 billion pounds in 2011and confirms their commitment to supporting effective programs that will further increase bag and film sustainability."

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Halopolymer had become the first Russian company to enter the American Society of Plastics Industry, (SPI). This organization is one of the most influential in the United States and represents the interests of market participants of plastics industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A global marketing partnership between Dow Chemical Co. and Switzerland-based RS Technik is promoting a solution for self-renewing pressure pipes, said Plasticsnews.

Co-operating with US-based Inland Pipe Rehabilitation, the companies will be marketing their NSF/ANSI 61-certifiied pipe-in-pipe system for immediate installation.

The RS BlueLine pipe renewal technology from RS Technik consists of a fiberglass composite tube, made using Dow custom-formulated resin, which is installed into damaged water and transmission mains. A new pipe is created inside the existing pipe by means of cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) technology. This saves time and money over the usual option of excavation and full replacement.

"Losses in drinking water distribution is a major global problem with infrastructure aging and leaks difficult to detect and costly to repair. With our expertise in material science, and working with RS Technik, we deliver a breakthrough solution for this critical global challenge," said Jon Penrice, global business director at Dow Formulated Systems.

RS BlueLine technology is certified to NSF/ANSI 61 by NSF International, the independent global public health and safety certification organization, and German DVGW regulation W270. This means it can be used in the renewal of all potable water pipes, including drinking water distribution mains and transmission lines from 150mm to 1.2m diameters. The static ability of the RS BlueLine system can carry a long-term inner pressure up to 16 bars without the support of the existing pipe, and replaces the existing pipe with all its functions.

As MRC wrote before, Dow Chemical has signed a long-term ethylene off-take agreement with a new Japanese joint venture that will allow the chemical producer to enhance its performance plastics franchise. The joint venture is being formed between Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui & Co. to construct and operate a Linear Alpha Olefins unit on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately USD57 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Improving the quality of plastic pipe in China has become a focus for several major customer groups of the industry, including municipal water systems and natural gas utilities who buy pipe, said Plasticsnews.

The China Urban Water and Wastewater Association, for example, hopes this year to roll out a qualification system with a recommended list of suppliers, driven by concerns about pipe failures and leaks hurting city water systems.

Wang Lan, vice secretary general of the Beijing-based association, told an audience of several hundred plastic pipe makers at an industry conference in early June that the group wants to form long-term relationships with those selected suppliers.

Poor manufacturing and poor installation practices sometimes means that pipe that should last 30 years will only last 15 years, she said.

A speaker from the China Urban Natural Gas Association said, for example, that they're concerned about quality problems and would like to work with CPPA companies and third-party testing labs to improve monitoring.

A representative of the China Water Conservation and Water Supply Institute urged the industry to pay attention to quality in raw materials and pipe production.

And an official from the Tianjin City Construction Materials Association said in prepared remarks that the group wants stronger monitoring of quality. Tianjin, one of China's largest cities, has set up a testing institute to monitor the quality of many construction materials, including plastic pipe, TCCMA said.

In an interview with Plastics News after her speech, Wang said her group hopes to rely on the Beijing-based China Plastics Piping Association to develop a list of suppliers and then do some testing of their products. She said it's a particular concern as China puts more focus on developing its Western regions.

She identified three reasons for pipes failing: poor quality raw material, improper pipe manufacturing and poor installation in the field. She said the group also plans to focus on quality issues with reinforced concrete pipe.

The plastic pipe industry has been working with customer groups to address quality concerns, said Wang Zhan Jie, secretary general of the Beijing-based CPPA.

He said that generally speaking, bigger companies have good quality and smaller pipe makers have more problems. He said raw material quality is a significant problem, and that some companies substitute cheaper materials in the manufacturing process.

Wang said CPPA is working on new regulations for pipes, and regularly holds meeting with customer groups to try to address concerns and invites them to speak at its events, like the Chengdu conference.

One challenge, he said, is that groups that purchase pipes, like utilities, are not always knowledgeable about how to determine if a pipe is good quality. He said CPPA is working to educate those groups so that quality becomes a bigger part of their purchasing decisions.

It's a point echoed by others involved in China's pipe market.

"Most of the government knows the quality is not good but they don't know how to do the quality control," said Zhao Qihui, Beijing-based technical services manager with French chemical company Total, which sells higher grade polyethylene to the Chinese natural gas pipe market.

An executive from pipe maker Foshan Rifeng Enterprises Co. Ltd. agreed that the pipe industry is under more pressure from customer groups to improve quality, and needs to work more closely with them.

Li Baiqian, vice general manager of the Foshan, Guangdong-based company, said part of the purpose of the CPPA conference was to gather big and small companies together and emphasize that the market trend is toward higher quality. To some extent, the problems should be expected given that it's only been a little more than 30 years since China began opening its economy, he said.

As MRC wrote before, Moody's Investors Service, the international rating agency, has changed China's outlook to stable from positive. Meantime, the rating agency affirmed China's government's bond rating of Aa3. The main reasons for this were a strong economic growth of the country, strong central government finances and an exceptionally strong external payments position.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The growth of Belarus production of finished products from rubber and plastics in May of this year slowed down. But in general, the industry continue to show a fairly high production growth - 10% in the first five months, according to MRC analysts.

According to the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the total production of plastic windows and window sills in May made up 38,300 sqm. During the five months of this year, the total output of these products in the Republic amounted to 175,500 sqm, up 22% year on year.

Production of pipes, hoses and fittings made from polymers in the Republic of Belarus last month totalled 1,200 tonnes. In January - May of this year, this figure has reached 5,200 tonnes, up 21% compared to the same period in 2012.

May production of boxes, crates, trays of plastic reached 58 mln units. In January - April of this year the total production of these products from polymers made ??289.1 mln. units, which is 12% more than in 2012.

The production of of polymer non-reinforced and combined films rose in May and reached about 7,700 tonnes. In January-March 2013, the total production volume of films totalled 37,800 tonnes, up 2% year-on-year.

Negative growth in output in the first five months was seen in the production of tires for passenger cars and plastic doors and boxes. The total volume of production of these products in the Republic of Belarus in May totalled 285,100 units and 2,800 sqm, respectively.

Overall, in the first five months of 2013 the total production of these products totalled 1,296 mln units and 12,900 sqm, up 14.5% and 19.3%, respectively, less in comparison with the same period a year ago.
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