U.S. chlor-alkali plant operating rate drops to 80% in October

(Bloomberg) -- The average operating rate of U.S. chlorine and caustic soda makers, which include Dow Chemical Co., dropped to 80 percent in October, a trade group said.


The industry's average operating rate for plants that make the chemicals known as chlor-alkali fell from 91 percent in September, The Chlorine Institute, based in Arlington, Virginia, said today in an e-mail. Plants on average ran at 79 percent of capacity in October 2009.


Chlorine is used to make vinyl products such as siding and PVC pipe. Caustic soda, produced in tandem with chlorine, is used to make pulp, paper and soap.


MRC


Unilever's new sustainable packaging goals bad for PVC

(Plastics Today) -- Unilever, one of the world's largest brand owners of FMCGs, plans to reduce its product packaging weight by a third in the next 10 years and do away with PVC as much as possible by 2012. Bioplastics are of interest but not yet truly viable nor particularly sustainable, it says.


Unilever currently uses around 2 million tons of packaging a year, it says. The Sustainable Living Plan is multi-faceted with separate goals for reducing water use, increasing its use of renewable resources, and also goals for reduced use of packaging and increased recycling of the packaging it does use.


The new plan is said to be part of a strategy to "decouple future growth from environmental impact." Its goals including cutting the environmental footprint of its products in half and sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably.


MRC


Middle East petrochemical producers are not a real threat to Indian companies

(Plastemart) -- Middle East petrochemical producers are not a real threat to Indian companies and they will still be able to compete, as per head of marketing at India's ONGC Petro additions Limited, in Platts. The next two years are expected to be tough for Indian producers.


The impact of cheap ethane gas used as feedstock by the Middle Eastern producers as compared to mainly naphtha-based steam crackers in Asia is expected to lessen over the next two years. He pointed out that while cheap ethane feedstock was the main driver for Middle East capacity in the past, there have been no new ethane allocations for new petrochemical projects in Saudi Arabia, for instance, since 2006.


Ethane in the Middle East is now being diverted more to power generation and water desalination plants, and new petrochemical projects are now based on mixed feeds - ethane and LPG, signaling a shift. In addition, several petrochemical projects in the Middle East had been delayed or were operating at lower rates due to non-availability of ethane feedstock or technical issues. The Middle East's ethane-based capacity will be only 16% of global ethylene capacity. So prices will still be determined by high consumption regions like China, Europe and Southeast Asia.


MRC


Arkema to invest US$110 mln over 3 years in Acrylics chain

(Plastemart) -- Arkema plans to invest US$110 mln over 3 years in its Acrylics sites in Clear Lake and Bayport, Texas. This plan will target acrylic acid and its esters, and will focus on growth opportunities seen for applications in water treatment, super absorbent polymers and enhanced oil & gas recovery.


This investment program is a step toward the company's ambition as the number 3 global supplier of Acrylics to grow its core strategic business while boosting its competitiveness.


The first project will focus on moving the Clear Lake site toward a best-in-class facility by improving the reliability and competitiveness of its Acrylic Acid assets. The combination of Arkema's industrial expertise and know-how in Acrylics, along with the latest advances in technology, will aggressively advance this project to start-up in early 2013, bringing the new rated nameplate capacity to 270,000 tons.


The second project for Clear Lake will be the construction of a 45,000 tons unit for the production of Methyl Acrylate, which will support growth opportunities in water treatment, elastomers and technical polymers. This unit is planned for startup in Q2-2013.


MRC


Finance for Pakistan's first ever BOPET plant

(Plastemart) -- Faysal Bank Ltd and National Bank of Pakistan will provide finance of Rs 1800 million for Pakistan's first ever Bi-axially Oriented Poly Ethylene Terephthelate (BOPET) plant. Total cost of the project is Rs 3.38 billion, out of which Rs 1.8 bln has been arranged through bank financing.


The plant, with machinery from Bruckner of Germany is expected to go into production by March 2012 at Port Qasim. The plant is being set up by Astro Plastics (Pvt) Ltd, an associate company of Ismail Industries Ltd (manufacturers of Candyland, Bisconni, Snackcity and Astropack). The lead advisors and arrangers of the financing agreement are National Bank of Pakistan and Faysal Bank which is also the agent bank and security trustee of the agreement.


MRC