Erdos Chlor-Alkali restarted its PVC plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Erdos Chlor-Alkali has restarted a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant restarted on December 15, 2013. The plant was shut for maintenance turnaround.

Located in Inner Mongolia, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, another Chinese petrochemical producer - Jining Gold Power restarted its PVC plant in early December following maintenance turnaround. It was shut on November 5, 2013. Located in Shandong province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Besides, Tosoh Guangzhou shut its PVC plant for maintenance turnaround on November 16, 2013. The closure was due to shortage of feedstock. Located in Guangzhou, China, the plant has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Constar Inc. is plunging into bankruptcy court protection for the third time in recent years, and this time the company has a buyer lined up for its assets, said Plasticsnews.

The Trevose, Pa.-based PET container maker, in paperwork in with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Dec. 19, said it wants to sell "substantially all of the company’s assets" to Amcor Rigid Plastics USA Inc., a unit of Australia-based Amcor Ltd.

Initial bankruptcy court filings provide general information about each case, and Constar indicates in that paperwork that the firm has assets of USD50 million to $100 million and liabilities of USD100 million to USD500 million. There are between 200 and 999 creditors.

PET resin producer DAK Americas of Charlotte, N.C., and DAK Resinas Americas Mexico SA de CV of Cosoleaquaque, Mexico, are listed as the top to creditors and are owed more than USd15.6 million combined. Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd. of London is owned another USD5.4 million, according to bankruptcy court records.

Constar calls itself a pioneer in the PET bottle business on the company’s website, but the firm has had a rough go financially in recent years. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in both 2008 and 2011.

This time around, Constar is turning to Amcor, which describes itself as the world’s largest packaging company.
Amcor confirmed it has a deal to acquire the Constar assets.

"The US business currently operates six plants with annualized sales of approximately US$190 million and has an attractive fit with Amcor Rigid Plastics," the company said in a news release.

Amcor expects to close the acquisition through the court during the first quarter, the company said. Constar goes back to the 1960s when the company first started making plastic bottles. By the 1980s, the firm said it was instrumental in the development of two-liter PET soda bottles.

As MRC wrote before, Amcor was looking to expand in India through another acquisition.
Melbourne, Australia-based Amcor was negotiating with Chennai, India-based Murugappa Group to buy its Tuflex division, which makes flexible packaging.

Amcor Limited is an Australian-based multinational packaging company. It operates manufacturing plants in 42 countries. It is the world's largest manufacturer of plastic bottles.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Engineering and Construction Co., one of South Korea top builders, signed a multi-billion dollar deal to set up a large-scale petrochemical plant in Egypt, as per Yonhap News Agency.

The builder secured the USD3.6 billion contract for the Tahrir Petrochemical Project as part of a consortium with its German partner Linde. Private Egyptian developer Carbon Holdings placed the order.

The plant in Ain Sokhna region, lying on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, aims to produce 1.35 million tons of ethylene and polyethylene per year. Both chemicals are used in a wide variety of industrial products ranging from paint to electrical insulation to ceramics.

Of the total, SK E&C will be responsible for the polyethylene plant worth USD900 million. Work on this plant will start late next year for completion by early 2019.

The company said besides drawing the basic design, procurement and construction, it has a stake in the so-called front and end engineering and design (FEED) aspect of the project, as well as financing.

"Comprehensive participation in design and financing means the Tahrir project marks the first time SK is entering a project in the North African country as a TSP, or total solution provider," the company said. It also said the latest order opens new horizons for the builder to compete in similar petrochemical products in such African countries as Ghana, Gabon and Uganda. Many African countries have shown interest in building up their petrochemical infrastructure as they move to industrialize their economies.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2013, South Korea-based chemical producer SK Chemicals unveiled its plans to launch a joint venture (JV) with Japan's Teijin Chemicals for developing, producing and marketing a super-engineering plastic, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). The proposed JV will set up PPS resin production plants to manufacture 12,000 tons per year (tpy) of PPS by 2015. The companies are also considering expanding the manufacturing capacity to 20,000tpy during the second phase of the project.

South Korea's SK E&C is an engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organization. The company has executed a wide range of design and construction projects for the petroleum refining industry including taking a refinery plant project through all phases from design to purchasing, construction and test run. Some of its projects include implementation of full-scale refineries in Kuwait, Brazil and Ghana.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Chemical Corp., one of South Korea's leading polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride producers, said it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to build a petrochemical plant in Iraq, said Englishyonhapnews.

The LOI was signed between the company president, Bang Han-hong, and Iraq's Vice Industry Minister Mohammed Zain in Seoul. Under the joint investment deal, the South Korean company will build an ethylene cracking center and a plant to produce petrochemical products. These facilities will be part of a larger ethylene and natural gas processing complex planned to be built in southern part of Iraq.

Petrochemicals such as ethylene are key materials used in almost every modern product from cars to electronics to consumer goods. Once completed as planned in 2020-21, the complex will have facilities to produce 1 million tons of key petrochemical products per year and could attract investments worth USD4 billion, improving the industrial competitiveness of the oil-rich Middle East country, Hanwha Chemical said.

On prospects for the plant, a Hanwha representative claimed there is a growing need in the industry to become "ethylene oriented" as soaring crude oil prices are undercutting profits in conventional naphtha processing method.

"By building a plant in Iraq where base material prices are cheap, Hanwha has effectively gained a level of competitiveness enjoyed by regional rivals," he said.

The company said the Iraqi project is its second deal in the country. In 2009, it formed an alliance with Saudi partner Sipchem to set up the International Polymers Company. This venture is expected to start producing 200,000 tons of polyethylene per year starting in the first half of 2014.

Hanwha Group is one of the largest business conglomerate in South Korea. Founded in 1952 as Korea Explosives Inc., the group has grown into a large multi-profile business conglomerate, with diversified holdings stretching from explosives, their original business, to retail to financial services.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cie. de Saint-Gobain is selling its U.S.-based fiber cement siding business to Plycem USA Inc., a subsidiary of Elementia SA de CV of Mexico, said Plasticsnews.

The business changing hands is part of Saint-Gobain's exterior products line for the construction sector. It manufactures and sells fiber cement siding, trim and accessory products for the U.S. and Canadian residential and commercial building markets. The business employs almost 250 and has three U.S. production sites in Roaring River, N.C.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and White City, Ore.

With the pending divestiture, Saint-Gobain will focus on its vinyl and polymer shake siding cladding businesses. The sale is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2014, subject to standard closing conditions.

As MRC wrote before, Westlake Chemical has agreed to acquire the PVC pipe and fittings unit of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA's CertainTeed Corp. for USD175 million. CertainTeed's pipe and foundation group produces PVC pipe and fittings for municipalities, water wells, mining, agriculture and irrigation.

Elementia is a Mexican consortium of industrial and construction companies that offer fiber cement, cement, concrete, polyethylene, styrene, polypropylene and copper applications. Elementia has four divisions — metals, building systems, plastics, and cement — and a presence in more than 40 countries with about 5,000 distribution centers.

Saint-Gobain, which claims to be the world leader in the habitat and construction markets, designs, manufactures and distributes building materials. Sales in 2012 totaled 43.2 billion euros (USD59 billion) for the company, which operates in 64 countries and has nearly 193,000 employees.

MRC