Lotte Chemical restarted PP plant in Malaysia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical has restarted a polypropylene (PP) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant restarted on May 29, 2014. It was shut on May 17, 2014 for maintenance turnaround.

Located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, Lotte Chemical Titan shut down its PP plant in Malaysia on February 5, 2014 for a brief outage. The plant, located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, with a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year resumed operations on February 6, 2014.

We remind that in early 2014, Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical Corp. established Hyundai Chemical as a new venture in the "oil refining and synthetic fiber materials business". The venture, owned 60 % by Hyundai and 40% by Lotte, will invest up to 1.2-trillion won, with production targeted to begin in the second half of 2016 at Hyundai’s Daesan plant in South Chungcheong province.

In early 2013, a major South Korean pertochemical and polymer producer, Honam Petrochemical, and one of the largest South Korean PET and PTA producer, KP Chemical, decided to merge into a new company with a new name Lotte Chemical Corporation. The newly formed company believes that this move will strengthen its position both in domestic and international markets and is in a line with Lotte Chemical's strategy to become a leading global company.

The Lotte Group currently has a presence in Indonesia via its subsidiary, Honam Petrochemicals, which acquired Malaysia’s polyolefin major Titan Chemicals in July 2010. Included in the acquisition was Titan’s Indonesian subsidiary - PT Titan Petrokimia Nusantara (TPN), which has a polyethylene (PE) production capacity of 450,000 tonnes/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kem One, Europe’s third-largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has announced an increase of EUR25/tonne in June prices of suspension PVC (SPVC) grades and mass PVC (MPVC) grades, reported the company in its press release.

Kem One will maintain a strict price policy in order to recover the margins,deteriorated by the weakness of the market for caustic soda.

As MRC wrote earlier, the company raised its prices of SPVC and MPVC grades by EUR25/tonne in May in order to recover the margins, deteriorated by the weakness of the market for caustic soda.

Kem One, a fully integrated vinyl production company, was established mid-2012 following the acquisition of Arkema's vinyl products division by the Klesch Group. The company employs 2,600 people at 22 manufacturing sites, primarily in Europe but also in Asia and North America. Europe’s third-largest producer of PVC with revenues in excess of one billion euros, Kem One continues to grow and build on its numerous strengths with a view to becoming market leader for integrated vinyl solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has completed the divestment of its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compound business Benvic Europe to US investment company OpenGate Capital, enhancing the resilience of the group's portfolio, reported the company on its site.

Completion comes after competition authorities cleared the divestment agreement, which Solvay and OpenGate Capital had announced in April.

Benvic Europe mixes PVC and additives, pigments and stabilizers to make innovative plastic compounds used in markets including construction, cars and packaging. Revenues last year reached about EUR160 million. Its three PVC compounding production sites are in France, Italy and Spain.

As an international chemical group, Solvay assists industries in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. Solvay generates 90% of its net sales in activities where it is among the world's top three players. It serves many markets, varying from energy and the environment to automotive and aeronautics or electricity and electronics, with one goal: to raise the performance of its clients and improve society's quality of life.
The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,400 people in 56 countries and generated EUR9.9 billion in net sales in 2013.

OpenGate Capital is a global private buyout firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of businesses seeking revitalization through growth and operational improvements. Established in 2005, OpenGate Capital is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and maintains offices in Paris, France and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The firm’s portfolio includes businesses operating in a variety of industries and generates revenues of nearly USD3 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perstorp, a world leader in specialty chemicals, today announces the acquisition of the pentaerythritol, penta, and calcium formate businesses from Chemko a.s. Strazske, a Slovakian chemicals producer, said the producer in its pres release.

The transaction is part of Perstorp’s ambitious investment plan to increase polyol capacity. Perstorp has signed an agreement with Chemko a.s. Strazske for the acquisition of its penta and calcium formate businesses, related technology and certain assets. It does not include the manufacturing plant in Strazske, Slovakia, any real estate or employees. The transaction is fully in line with both companies’ strategies going forward. For Perstorp, this is part of an ambitious investment plan to increase its polyol production.

"Penta is a core business area within Perstorp and these products have been key in the development of Perstorp as an international company. This acquisition is an opportunity to increase efficiency, expand output and further grow together with our customers", Perstorp President and CEO Jan Secher says.

"Perstorp plans to satisfy all customer needs out of the plants we are running at present and we will have sufficient capacity to supply both our current and new customers. Going forward, we plan to further increase capacity to support our customers’ long-term growth", says Ulrika Andersson, VP Business Unit Penta.

The polyalcohol Penta is used in applications such as alkyd resins, PVC stabilizers, synthetic lubricants, varnishes, and other products. Perstorp is now producing Penta in three different production plants in Germany, the US and Sweden.

As MRC wrote before, The Perstorp Group will be focusing on its innovative caprolactone product range for the PU market. Considerable investments between 2011 and 2014 have doubled the capacity for caprolactone production and substantially enhanced market and customer support making Perstorp the undisputed world leader in this technology. Perstorp’s Capa brand of performance enhancing caprolactones includes an extensive offer of Capa monomer, Capa polyols and Capa thermoplastics.

Perstorp is one of the world leaders in various sectors of the specialty chemicals market, it's pioneer in formalin chemistry, plastics and surface materials. Perstorp was founded in 1881 and is controlled by PAI partners,a major European private equity company. The company has around 1,500 employees in with 22 production plants in Europe, Asia and North America.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toyota Tsusho Corporation will begin full-scale manufacturing of high-performance plastics outside Chennai, India in June 2014 with joint-venture partners Toyota Tsusho India Pvt.Ltd., Nippon Pigment (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd., part of India's largest auto parts conglomerate, the Samvardhana Motherson Group, said Plastemart.

The manufacturing plant will support growing demand for high-performance plastics with the superior heat-resistance required for auto parts applications.

The four companies established a plastics compound joint venture outside Delhi, India in March 2013 and then began construction of a manufacturing plant outside Chennai. In recent years, Japanese, American, and European auto and electronics companies have accelerated the establishment of manufacturing sites in southern India, boosting demand for local procurement of high-performance plastics. Toyota Tsusho participated in the establishment of this joint venture to rapidly and precisely meet the needs of its customers in southern India through consigned processing and manufacturing of high-performance plastics for plastics manufacturers.

Nippon Pigment (Singapore) has a 50-year track record in the compounds business with its color processing and other operations. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Pigment, which boasts six affiliated plants in Japan and nine in other parts of Asia. Motherson Sumi Systems is a core unit of India's Motherson Group, a comprehensive auto parts conglomerate. With a 40-year history, the company supplies plastic compounds, wire harnesses, and other pro ther products to auto manufacturers in and outside India. The partners aim to establish a value chain for high-quality, high-performance plastics in India by combining Nippon Pigment's compounds technology and know-how, Motherson Sumi Systems' local business management know-how, and Toyota Tsusho's logistics and sales networks.

As MRC wrote before, India’s automotive plastics market revenues grew at an annual rate of around 25% during 2009-12. The consumption of polypropylene (PP) and polyurethane is forecasted to double in terms of revenues in automotive plastics sector during the next five years. The leading automotive plastics manufacturers in India are BASF, Bayer, SRF and Dow Chemicals, said Research and Markets.
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