Caltex sets up compounded resin plant at Karvina, Chech Republic

MOSCOW (MRC) -- GS Caltex has opened a chemical plant in the Czech Republic to increase its supply of compounded resin in Europe, as per GV.

The plant is built on a 40,000 square meters land at an industrial complex in Karvina (370 km east of Prague), according to the firm, South Korea’s second-largest oil refiner.

It said the plant can produce 30,000 tons of compounded resin, a functional plastic widely used in manufacturing cars and electronics products, per year. The company added its annual supply of the product will reach 190,000 tons worldwide.

"The completion of the plant has allowed us to take a meaningful step in the compounded resin market in Europe as an international manufacturer," said GS Caltex Vice Chairman and CEO Huh Jin-soo at the ceremony held on the site to celebrate the establishment of the plant.

This is the first time that a Korean enterprise is running a plant with a capacity to manufacture 30,000 tons of compounded resin, according to the firm.

It said it will sell its polymer compounds to the Korean companies operating in the region. They include the country’s two biggest automakers - Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors - and the electronics giant Samsung Electronics.

"We also plan to expand our sales to other global enterprises such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen in the near future," GS Caltex said.

The firm said it will increase the amount of annual production at the Karvina plant to 50,000 tons by 2016. It also said the plant is anticipated to have annual sales of 1 billion won (USD 94.1 million) in 2017.

GS Caltex sold 6,000 tons of the compounded resin in Europe last year. The total size of the regional market in the same time period was 12,000 tons.

With the new plant, the firm said it anticipates increasing annual production of compounded resin to 240,000 tons by 2016 worldwide.

As MRC reported previously, CB&I was recently awarded a contract by GS Caltex for the license, basic engineering and catalyst supply for a new paraxylene (PX) unit to be built in Yeosu, Korea. The unit will use the BP paraxylene technology, exclusively licensed by CB&I, and will have a world-scale design capacity. Start-up is expected in 2016.

GS Caltex has been producing compounded resin domestically as well as overseas. Its domestic plants include the ones at the industrial complex in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province and Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. In Langfang, China, it operates a plant with an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons. The plant in Heibei Province has supplied polymer compounds to China and neighboring nations such as Russia, Taiwan and Thailand. It also has another Chinese unit in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
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Dow Chemical results miss; expects up to USD4 billion in asset sales

MOSCOW (MRC) - Dow Chemical Co reported lower-than-expected quarterly results due to weak earnings at its performance materials unit and said it expects to raise USD3 billion to USD4 billion from asset sales, said Reuters.

The company is looking to sell its epoxy, commodity chlorine derivatives and European construction materials businesses, which together contribute about USD6 billion to annual sales.

Dow Chemical and rival DuPont are shifting focus to production of seeds and pesticides, where sales have been booming, and are shedding businesses that are more exposed to swings in commodity prices.

The performance materials unit, which makes epoxy, engineered plastics and polyurethane foams, reported a 36% fall in third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

"In performance materials, we are still facing significant headwinds and so that's why you see us increasing that divestiture target to USD3-4 billion," spokeswoman Rebecca Bentley said.

"We are taking very aggressive actions within (epoxy as well as portions of the company's chlorine business) right now to improve profitability but we are also stating very clearly that a transaction is likely," she said.

Dow Chemical did not outline a time frame for the new asset sales target. The largest U.S. chemical maker by sales has divested non-core businesses representing about USD8 billion in revenue since 2009.

The company sold its polypropylene licensing and catalyst business to smaller rival W.R. Grace & Co (GRA.N) for USD500 million this month as a part of its earlier plan to sell non-core assets worth about USD1.5 billion by 2014.

Lower earnings at the performance materials unit offset gains in the agriculture and plastics business, leading the company to report lower-than-expected results for the first time this year.

As MRC wrote before, Dow Elastomers, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, will begin the production of AFFINITY GA Polyolefin Elastomers (POEs) for hot melt adhesives in Tarragona, Spain. This is a milestone for Dow, as it is the first time the production of AFFINITY GA POEs will take place in Europe.

Dow Chemical's net income rose 20% to USD594 million, or 49 cents per share, also helped by its packaging, coatings and infrastructure and electronics businesses. Adjusted profit was 50 cents per share, missing the average analyst estimate of 54 cents per share. Revenue rose 1 percent to USD13.73 billion. Analysts on average had expected USD13.99 billion.


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BASF announces further steps to improve pigment segment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF continues to design differentiated products in high-value applications, and optimize the global production network. BASF will invest EUR250 million in the next four years in its production network as well as in research and development, said the company in its press release.

Approximately 650 positions globally will be reduced by 2017. "The measures we are undertaking will make us more responsive to market and customer needs. We also continue to significantly invest in innovation as the leading pigment supplier," said Dr. Markus Kramer, President of the Dispersions & Pigments division.

BASF will optimize its global production network for pigments. The major measures include the closure of the Paisley plant in Scotland and the restructuring of the Huningue plant in France. In addition, BASF is examining strategic options for the site in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The planned investments in the production network will further strengthen the production footprint in Asia Pacific, the fastest-growing market. This also includes the start-up and expansion of a plant for high-performance pigments at BASF’s wholly-owned production site in Nanjing , China, and the expansion of the BASF pigments plant in Ulsan, Korea.

"The future global production network will enable us to reliably and efficiently supply our partners from a competitive base," added Kramer. Further measures to improve the competitiveness of the Performance Products segment continue to be analyzed.

As MRC wrote previously, in mid-September, SIBUR, a leading Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and the German chemicals giant BASF signed a long-term cooperation memorandum to supply additives used for polymer production and processing at SIBUR’s production facilities. The deal provides for supplies of additives used to produce polypropylene, polyethylene, synthetic rubbers, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), and ABS plastics at SIBUR's production facilities, with BASF ensuring also technical support.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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Henkel sets up innovation centre in Pune to serve automotive industry

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Germany's Henkel Adhesive Technologis has set up an innovation centre in Pune to cater largely to automotive sector of India, according to SmarInvestor.

It is equipped with customer component testing facilities, dispensing systems, application training, product development and engineering facilities which will provide customers comprehensive adhesive solutions.

The sector contributes 50% of Henkel's total business while general industry contributes the rest.

The global market size of adhesive industry is USD8billion.

The company has four facilities for adhesive manufacturing located at Koparkhairane, Turbhe, Tarappur near Mumbai and Jejuri near Pune.

This is Henkel's 12th innovation centre and will eye on needs of markets like Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific region, and Latin America. However, it has not disclosed the investment details for the centre.

Commenting on this, Jeremy Hunter, President, Henkel India said, "This strategic investment will help strengthen our footprint in India and will provide our wide customer base an access to global innovation and better solutions. India is a very important market for us. Here we are not only eying automobile sector, but exploring others like aerospace, steel, railways and consumer products. By 2016, Henkel expects to grow sales to 20 billion euros, of which 10 billion Euros is expected from emerging markets like India."

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2013, Henkel inaugurated the world’s largest adhesives factory in Shanghai, China. With this new production facility the company is expanding its production capacity in a major emerging market and will deliver its adhesive technologies more quickly to the growing number of customers based in China and the Asian region. The new factory comprises 150,000 square meters of space and is now the central production site for the company's industrial adhesives in China and the Asia-Pacific region. Customers being served by the new adhesives plant include enterprises in the automotive industry and various consumer goods sectors. Annual output is forecast to reach up to 428,000 t of adhesives.

Henkel AG & Company, KGaA is a manufacturing company making various chemical products including detergents and adhesives, with brands and technologies for consumer and industrial businesses, headquartered in Dusseldorf.
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Russian EuroChem to invest USD30 mln in fertilizer plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian fertilizer producer EuroChem will invest nearly USD30 million in the construction of a fertilizer plant in China, which will be launched in 2014, said PRIME, citing Director for Finance and Economy Andrei Ilyin.

"Investments amount to nearly USD30 million," he said. Earlier, the company said that the plant will be built jointly with Chinese potash fertilizer producer, Migao Corporation.

According to Ilyin, the plant will produce up to 60,000 tonnes of potassium nitrate and up to 200,000 tonnes of non-chlorine NPK fertilizers a year.

The plant will be focused on the Chinese market, where EuroChem is already selling more than 200,000 tonnes of specialized NPK fertilizers.

The company has not made a final decision on the construction of a USD1.5 billion plant for the production of ammonia and carbamide in the U.S.

Ilyin said that the company must analyze the project’s prospects and profitability.

"There are numerous floating factors – the gas price, the workforce cost, and the balance of supply and demand on the market. We must analyze quite a lot of factors," he said.

As MRC wrote before, EuroChem announced that the Northwestern Federal District Centre of Laboratory Analysis and Technical Metrology has completed the testing of effluent samples taken at its Phosphorit phosphate plant in Northwest Russia. The results and conclusions of the testing confirm Phosphorit’s internal laboratory results and effectively rule out any direct link between the plant’s activity and the increases in the phosphorous levels of the Luga River and Baltic Sea.

EuroChem is a top ten agrochemical company globally by nutrient capacity, producing primarily nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, as well as certain organic synthesis products and iron ore.
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