Ukrainian PC market fell by 29% over three quarters of 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Ukrainian polycarbonate (PC) market fell over the first three quarters of 2015 by 29% year on year and totalled only 2,000 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.

The market that is totally dependent on imports has continued to decline this year on the back of devaluation of the national currency and low purchasing power of the population. Traders said the recovery of the market is unlikely to take place, at least, to the last year's volumes amid conditions of economic crisis and political instability. At the same time, the competition intensified among the domestic players in the PC granules market. The main importers - Eugene Co., Ltd. (its share of imports - 48%), Technology Klozhers (35%), Radka Ukraine (10%) - still hold leading positions.

With regard to the pricing policy of the major PC suppliers to the Ukrainian market - Sabic Innovative Plastics and Bayer MaterialScience (now - Covestro), then, despite the downward trend of the general price level in Europe, prices for Ukrainian consumers remained at the level of the previous month.

The country's spot PC market is still virtually non-existent, quantities were often imported under the specific orders. As for the extrusion grade and bottle grade market, spot sales were rare there even in the past. There is only one producer of PC sheets and several bottles producers in Ukraine. Companies were working on the smooth-running scheme with the old suppliers under the contractual obligations, therefore, any market fluctuations could be registered only in the injection moulding segment.

Bayer MaterialScience has acquired legal and economic independence from the Bayer Group since September and was renamed as Covestro. It is not yet known what the new company's pricing policy will be. However, there have been certain inventories of material in the Ukrainian market so far, which should suffice until the end of the quarter.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has presented innovative uses of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), as per the company's press release.

Thus, Celanese exhibited the innovative controlled release pharmaceutical copolymer, VitalDose EVA.

"EVA has been used for years in drug delivery systems," said Dr. Donald Loveday, Celanese strategic marketing manager. "VitalDose EVA is an inert thermoplastic that is expanding design possibilities with its customizable drug release properties. This controlled release excipient is developed for a wide variety of pharmaceutical products with varying routes of administration, including intraoral, intravaginal, ocular, subcutaneous and transdermal."

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2015, Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract from Celanese Corp. for the construction of EVA emulsions production plant at Jurong Island, Singapore. Construction is expected to begin by mid-2015, and the unit is expected to begin production by second half of 2016.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,500 employees worldwide and had 2014 net sales of USD6.8 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical, a subsidiary of the South Korean Lotte Group, has shut its low density polyethylene/ethyl vinyl acetate (LDPE/EVA) swing plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant was taken offstream on October 12, 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 135,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, Publicly listed petrochemical company Lotte Chemical Titan, another subsidiary of the South Korean Lotte Group, is studying the possibility of building a USD4 billion upstream plant to reduce imports of raw materials. Around 40% of the total investment needed for the new plant would be taken from the company’s internal cash, while the rest would be from bank loans, Yoon said, adding that all investors would be from South Korea.

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) -- The Linde Group officially opened the new Linde Pilot Reformer research facility at Pullach near Munich – Linde’s largest location worldwide. The event was attended by customers, partners and employees, said the conpany in its press release.

Linde has invested approximately EUR 5 million in total to expand Pullach’s research and development capacity. The Linde Pilot Reformer will be used to refine steam reforming technology for the production of synthesis gas – a mixture consisting of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The carbon feedstock for synthesis gas can be in the form of natural gas, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), naphtha or even carbon dioxide (CO2).

“Inventiveness and innovation are ingrained in Linde’s DNA. The official opening of the pilot reformer provides further proof of our customer-centric approach to development and sends a strong signal confirming Germany’s role as an innovation hub,” commented Dr Wolfgang Buchele, Chief Executive Officer of Linde AG.

“Linde intends to use this pilot facility to test and optimise all kinds of approaches to reforming. The insights we gain will help us further improve reforming processes and concepts for our customers,” adds Dr Christian Bruch, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and responsible for Technology and Innovation as well as the Engineering Division.

Tests in the pilot reformer are currently focused on the dry reforming. This innovative process was developed by Linde in cooperation with its partners BASF and hte (responsible for catalyst development), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology / KIT (responsible for simulations) and DECHEMA (supplier of materials). The pilot project has been awarded funding by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) of just under one EUR1 million.

The production of synthesis gas (a mixture of H2 and CO) through dry reforming of natural gas means that carbon dioxide (CO2) can be used on an industrial scale as an economical feedstock. The process is also significantly more energy efficient than the conventional method of reforming. The synthesis gas can be used to produce valuable downstream products such as base chemicals or fuels.

One such example is dimethyl ether (DME). The DME produced through dry reforming offers an improved energy balance and lower CO2 emissions.

The dry reforming process also offers cost efficiencies relative to partial oxidation – the conventional method used up to now to produce CO-rich synthesis gases. These would be of particular interest to small and medium-sized plants. If the dry reforming pilot proves successful, there are plans to commercialise the process when the funded project comes to an end in 2017 and build a reference plant for a Linde customer.

As MRC informed earlier, SIBUR, a Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and Linde Group, a German Technology company, have signed agreements to build and operate new air separation units in Dzerzhinsk, the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German plastic automotive parts producer Kayser Automotive Systems has launched a new factory in Jaszkowa Dolna, in Poland’s southern part, said Plasticsnewseurope.

The new facility was opened three months after the firm secured the permission to launch its investment in Poland. Kayser Automotive invested close to PLN 11.5m (EUR2.75m) at the plant, and says it will be operated by at least 80 workers, with plans to increase this to as much as 120.

The plant was built in the Walbrzyska special economic zone (WSSE), enabling the company with preferential tax treatment for its manufacturing project. The investor located its production facility on a site of some 29,973 square metres, located in the municipality of Klodzko.

The firm’s product range consists of a wide range of automotive components made with the use of plastics. These include canisters, cables, connectors, pipes, valves, reservoirs and other parts. Kayser Automotive provides its output to a number of leading car producers, such as Volkswagen Group, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and DAF, according to data released by the company.

The Polish plant is operated by the firm’s local subsidiary Kayser Automotive Systems Klodzko sp. z o.o. Its output will be supplied, among others, to Volkswagen’s factory in Wrzesnia, in western Poland.
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