A. Schulman to move European shared service center to Poland

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A. Schulman, Inc., a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds, powders and resins, has announced plans to move its EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) shared service center to Poznan, Poland from Londerzeel, Belgium, as per the company's press release.

Plans call for this phased relocation to be completed by May 2016. The company anticipates the cost of this action to be approximately EUR7 million over the next 12 months and is expected to generate annual savings of approximately EUR5 million by fiscal 2017, when fully implemented.

"The decision to relocate our shared service center is in line with our ongoing cost control initiatives and our strategy to prudently and proactively manage the business by better balancing market trends and macroeconomic conditions," said Heinrich Lingnau, vice president and general manager, EMEA. "This organizational realignment decision was made after several months of careful consultation and a close examination of all alternatives. This action will enable us to enhance service levels to our customers and improve our cost structure; however, we understand that this decision will impact our teams and we are working diligently to support the transition of associates directly affected by this strategic decision."

"Our operations in Poland are strong and growing. This action will not only benefit the region but will help to further develop our team in the country and leverage our previous success," stated Isabel Casimiro, finance director, EMEA.

As MRC informed earlier, Materials firm A. Schulman Inc. plans to spend 5 million to EUR7 mln (USD5.5 mln to USD7.7 mln) on a new masterbatch facility in Turkey, to tap into market growth in the region.

A. Schulman, Inc. is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Since 1928, the company has been providing innovative solutions to meet its customers' demanding requirements. The company's customers span a wide range of markets such as packaging, mobility, building & construction, electronics & electrical, agriculture, personal care & hygiene, sports, leisure & home, custom services and others. The company employs approximately 3,900 people and has 42 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman reported net sales of approximately USD2.5 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2014.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's largest chemicals maker, Grupa Azoty, doubled its first-quarter net profit and beat market forecasts as mild winter boosted fertiliser sales while lower gas tariffs translated into higher margins, said Reuters.

The state-controlled group closed its seasonally best quarter with a bottom line of 276 million zlotys (USD76 million), while analysts expected a profit of 203 million zlotys. Overall sales rose by 5% to 2.84 billion zlotys. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast 2.854 billion zlotys.

"We benefited from mild winter that allowed farmers to use fertilisers earlier than usually, increasing our sales in this segment of the market," Grupa Azoty's deputy chief and chief financial officer Andrzej Skolmowski said in a statement.

"Polish zloty depreciation strengthened our competitiveness in international markets whilst lower prices of natural resources reduced our costs, boosting our performance in the export-oriented parts of the business," he added.

The group said it signed UOP, a unit of U.S. conglomerate Honeywell International, to design technological solutions for Azoty's 1.68 billion zloty project to build Europe's largest propylene plant.

Azoty flagged the investment -- its biggest ever -- to capitalise on a regional shortage of the chemical used to make paint. The plant, part of the group's 7 billion zloty investment plan, is to be completed by 2020. It will increase Grupa Azoty's annual sales by about 2 billion zlotys and profit by "hundreds of millions of zlotys".

As MRC informed earlier, Poland’s Grupa Azoty is making a USD450m entry into the global propylene market, in a move that underscores its position as one of Europe’s biggest chemical companies. The investment, the largest in the company’s history, will create Europe’s biggest production plant for propylene, a critical chemical in the production of plastics and solvents, used in a range of products including car parts, carpets and toys.


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese Idemitsu Kosan Co has delayed the restart of a styrene monomer (SM) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is likely to be restarted on May 14, 2015. It was earlier scheduled for an early-May restart.

The plant was taken off-stream on April 6, 2015 for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Idemitsu Kosan also shut its refinery in Japan for maintenance turnaround in April 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located at Chiba in Japan, the refinery has a crude processing capacity of 220,000 bpd.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexichem, Mexican PVC and specialty chemicals maker, has announced that its Dura-Line Corp. subsidiary has commenced production at a new plant in Hyderabad, India, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new plant will produce cable ducts and pressure pipes for the water, datacom and gas markets. The new plant is Mexichem’s fourth plant in India, with two other facilities located in Goa, and another in Neemrana, near Dehli.

The location of the Hyderabad plant in South India will allow Mexichem to strategically position itself for exports to Southeast Asia, to serve customers in South India and to capture new business opportunities in the region.

Mexichem says the opening of this plant is part of a continued strategy of becoming a global, vertically integrated chemical company with a focus on high-end specialized products and solutions.

As MRC informed earlier, on 1 December 2014, Mexichem completed the acquisition of Vestolit GmbH. Vestolit will be consolidated under Mexichem's chlorine-vinyl chain for accounting purposes.

Based in Marl, Germany, Vestolit is Europe's only manufacturer of High Impact Suspension PVC (HIS-PVC) for weather-resistant windows and is Europe's second-largest producer of paste PVC for floors and wallpapers. Vestolit also produces alkyl-chlorides, a value-added intermediary used for a variety of chemical and industrial applications and is vertically integrated in a single site from Salt through Specialty PVC. Total installed PVC capacity is 415,000 tons per year.

Mexichem, of Tlalnepantla, an industrial municipality close to Mexico City, is Latin Americaп's largest manufacturer of PVC pipe, vinyl resins and compounds. The company has annual revenues of more than USD5 billion and has been listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange for more than 30 years.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded a four-year contract by Sadara Chemical for engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's announcement.

The contract value was not disclosed.

Sadara is currently building the world’s largest chemical complex to ever be constructed in a single phase, with 26 world-scale manufacturing plants, in Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia.

Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs is providing both In-Kingdom and Out-of-Kingdom EPCM services to Sadara. The In-Kingdom services are being delivered from Jacobs’ local operations in Saudi Arabia with support from its extensive global network.

"We are proud to deepen our relationship with Sadara, which began in 2011," said Jacobs vice president Bassim Shebaro. "Since then, we have developed a strategic business relationship built on value, trust, partnership and commitment."

Established in October 2011, Sadara is a joint venture developed by Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical. With a total investment of about USD20 billion, Sadara is building a world-scale integrated chemical complex with 26 manufacturing plants and over 3 million tpy of capacity.

Sadara’s differentiated product portfolio, employing cutting-edge technologies, will add downstream value chains to expand and transform the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s existing chemicals landscape, according to project officials.

Sadara also says it will introduce many new products to Saudi Arabia, including the first isocyanate and polyol (polyurethane) plants, enabling many industries that either do not currently exist in the Kingdom or only exist through imports of raw materials.

As MRC informed previously, Sadara Chemical Company plans to begin production of ethylene and polyethylene (PE) - chemicals with wide applications in manufacturing, including plastics, molding, coatings and more - by 2017.
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