Restart of operations underway at Haldia Petrochemicals plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After a prolonged closure, the Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) plant is in the process of re-starting operations with the trial run to begin in the near future, as per Plastemart.

"The captive power plant has been commissioned as a pre-start up activity. The main plant start-up should happen anytime now," a source in HPL told PTI, adding that stabilisation of the power plant would take some days, after which steps would be initiated for operating the mother plant, closed since July 2014.

Earlier, the West Bengal Government had provided Rs. 100 crore as margin money as demanded by the lenders, while the other promoter, TCG, was yet to furnish that amount. TCG has agreed to come up with the margin money, while the lenders have also committed funds for running the plant.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-July 2014, the manufacturing plant of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd was shut down after the naphtha cracker unit developed a technical snag. Earlier, the Haldia plant was running at 50% capacity for long due to working capital crunch.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

PET consumption in Kazakhstan rose by 5% in 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Market capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Kazakhstan increased in 2014 by 5% year on year and totalled 54,400 tonnes, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

To dat, there is no production of PET chips in Kazakhstan. Local bottlers and converters meet the needs of the Kazakh market by imported Chinese and Korean PET. China and Korea are the main PET chips suppliers.

At the same time, Chinese grades accounted for 59% of the total imports of material for the production of PET preforms in 2014, whereas Korean grades accounted for 41%. Last year's share of other countries-suppliers was low and was less than 1%.


The growth in consumption was achieved because of a surge in shipments in December, as the overall consumption of material in the market remained stable from January to November 2014 compared to the same period of 2013. December PET imports totalled 5,800 tonnes, up by almost 5 times than imports in November.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, spot prices of Asian bottle grade PET fell again in the domestic Kazakh market last week. On the average, traders made discounts of Tenge 5,000-10,000/tonne to customers. The price range dropped to Tenge 240,000-260,000/tonne CPT Almaty, including VAT.

MRC

Albemarle reports Q4 loss on Rockwood deal, pensions, lower sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Albemarle Corp. (ALB) reported a fourth-quarter loss of USD18.5 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier because of the costs associated with its Rockwood acquisition, pensions and lower sales, said the company in its press release.

Rockwood announced the completion of the USD6.2bn acquisition earlier this year.

On a per-share basis, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company said it had a loss of 24 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, came to 99 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of USD1.01 per share.

The specialty chemicals company posted revenue of USD598.6 million in the period, also falling short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected USD648.6 million, according to Zacks.

For the year, the company reported profit of USD133.3 million, or USD1.69 per share. Revenue was reported as USD2.45 billion.

Albemarle shares have dropped almost 8 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit USD55.37, a decrease of 12 percent in the last 12 months.

Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a premier specialty chemicals company with leading positions in attractive end markets around the world. With a broad customer reach and diverse end markets, Albemarle develops, manufactures and markets technologically advanced and high value added products, including lithium and lithium compounds, bromine and derivatives, catalysts and surface treatment chemistries used in a wide range of applications including consumer electronics, flame retardants, metal processing, plastics, contemporary and alternative transportation vehicles, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, construction and custom chemistry services.
MRC

Wacker Chemie 2014 net profit rises by 14% on higher sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German specialty chemicals maker Wacker Chemie said its core profit rose by 14 percent in the fourth quarter, helped by a recovery in prices and demand for polysilicon, a key material it supplies to the solar industry, said Reuters.

Wacker Chemie said its preliminary fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 180 million euros (USD203 million), beating the 177 million average forecast in a Reuters poll.

"The main reason for the higher earnings was the year-on-year improvement in prices for solar silicon," the company said in a statement, adding the business division continued to run its production facilities at full capacity in the fourth quarter.

Sales in the period rose about 10 percent to 1.19 billion euros, also higher than the 1.15 billion analyst forecast. Shares in Wacker Chemie were indicated 0.2 percent higher, the only gainers among Germany's mid-sized stocks, according to pre-market data.

The company is the world's second-biggest maker of polysilicon after U.S.-based Hemlock Semiconductor, and the business unit accounted for more than half of the group's fourth-quarter core profit.

Prices for polysilicon have recovered strongly over 2014, boosted by strong demand for solar panels in China and ending a margin squeeze in which prices tumbled to less than USD20 per kg in 2013 from a 2008 peak of almost USD400.

Manufacturing a wide range of products, Wacker Chemie also supplies raw material for half of the world's chewing gum.

As MRC reported earlier, Wacker Chemie AG launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

Rock-Tenn, MeadWestvaco to merge, create packaging giant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Packaging companies Rock-Tenn Co and MeadWestvaco Corp agreed to form a combined USD16 billion company to take on market leader International Paper Co in the United States and abroad, said Reuters.

Shares of MeadWestvaco and Rock-Tenn rose to record highs. Demand for the corrugated boxes made by both companies has risen sharply as internet shopping has taken off. Worldwide e-commerce sales are expected to have risen 20 percent to USD1.5 trillion last year, according to industry data firm eMarketer.

The merger, announced by both companies on Monday, will create the second-largest U.S. packaging company behind International Paper, which has a market capitalization of nearly USD23 billion. MeadWestvaco shareholders will have a 50.1 percent stake in the new company, which will be named before the deal closes and based in Richmond, Virginia, where MeadWestvaco is headquartered.

Rock-Tenn shareholders can receive either one share of the new company for each share held or a cash amount equal to the average price of Rock-Tenn shares over a five-day period ending three trading days before the deal closes.

Though both firms primarily are paper-based packagers, a portion of the new company will keep operating in plastics packaging. MWV bought Calmar, an injection moulder, for USD710m in 2006.

Rock-Tenn and MeadWestvaco each reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday. Norcross, Georgia-based Rock-Tenn's shipments of corrugated boxes rose about 11 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Rock-Tenn Chief Executive Steven Voorhees will lead the new company. Luke, his counterpart at MeadWestvaco, will become non-executive chairman.

MeadWestvaco, which decided this month to spin off its chemicals business after pressure from activist investor Starboard Value LP, said the separation would be completed after the merger. The companies said the structure of the deal would help retain the "favorable tax attributes" related to this spinoff.

MRC