Wacker Q3 net income drops 51%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemical company Wacker Chemie AG said its third-quarter net income plunged to EUR58.2 million from EUR119.0 million reported last year. Earnings per share were EUR1.21 , compared to EUR2.43 in the prior year, said the company in its press release.

Sales climbed 10.2% to EUR1.358 billion from EUR1.232 billion in the prior year, with all divisions generating year-over-year sales increases.

Looking ahead, Wacker Chemie said group net income is projected to be somewhat lower than last year.

The company expects a slight rise in EBITDA on a comparable basis.

The company expects full-year 2015 group sales to grow by around 10%, if economic conditions do not weaken further.

In Q3 2015, WACKER POLYMERS posted total sales of EUR313.0 million (Q3 2014: EUR288.0 million), up almost 9 percent. Significantly higher volumes overall and positive exchange-rate effects were factors in this rise. The division’s sales were nearly 1 percent below the previous quarter (EUR314.6 million). Marginally lower average prices relative to the preceding quarter played a role here. WACKER POLYMERS’ EBITDA increased considerably between July and September 2015 both year over year and compared with Q2 2015. Year over year, EBITDA climbed some 34 percent to EUR64.7 million (Q3 2014: EUR48.2 million), with sales gains being one of the main reasons for this growth, and higher capacity utilization and lower raw-material costs also playing a role. WACKER POLYMERS beat its prior-quarter EBITDA figure of EUR56.8 million by around 14 percent. The EBITDA margin for the third quarter of 2015 was 20.7 percent, after 16.7 percent a year ago and 18.1 percent in Q2 2015.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has let a contract to Axens SA, Rueil-Malmaison, France, to build diesel fuel and gasoline hydrotreating units as part of the company’s ongoing modernization and expansion program at its Heydar Aliyev (formerly New Baku) refinery at Baku in Azerbaijan, said Ogj.

The companies signed a contract for the new units on Oct. 28 in Baku, SOCAR said. Axens’ scope of work under the contract will include delivery of construction and technology licensing for the two hydrotreaters, according to Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR’s president. A value of the contract was not disclosed.

In addition to the diesel fuel and gasoline hydrotreating units, the modernization program at Heydar Aliyev will involve construction of several other new units, including a bitumen plant, amine-treating units, and an LPG Merox unit, Abdullayev said at the contract-signing ceremony.

Most recently, SOCAR finalized a contract with Austria’s Porner Ingenieur GMBH to provide basic design works for the proposed 400,000-tonne/year grassroots bitumen plant, with Fluor Corp. to serve as contractor on the project (OGJ Online, Oct. 23, 2015; Sept. 18, 2015).

The new bitumen plant, which comes as part of the refinery’s reconstruction and modernization, is due to be commissioned in 2018. Designed to be implemented in stages during 2015-19, the refinery’s modernization and upgrading program also includes plans to renovate the refinery’s primary crude processing, catalytic cracking, and catalytic reforming units.

Once completed, the Heydar Aliyev overhaul will increase the refinery’s crude processing capacity to about 7.5 million tpy from its current 6 million-tpy capacity, resulting in 100% production of fuels that meet Euro-5 quality standards as well as high-quality raw feedstock to be transported via pipeline to an associated ethylene and polyethylene plant operated by SOCAR subsidiary Azerikimya Production Union.

The revamp program follows the Jan. 1 shutdown and subsequent merger of processing activities at SOCAR’s Azerneftyag refinery with those of the nearby Heydar Aliyev refinery as part of the company’s plan to eliminate economically inefficient production activities and management structures associated with the operation of two separate refineries.

As MRC informed earlier, INEOS Technologies is pleased to announce that it has licensed its Innovene S Process for the manufacture of medium density and high density polyethylene to SOCAR Polymer for their HDPE project in the Chemical Industrial Park located in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.

SOCAR Polymer is a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The entity was formed at the end of 2013 to run investments at the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, a production park which intends to become a chemical hub in central Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The cast polymers market was valued at USD6349.7 mln in 2014, which is projected to reach USD8987.1 mln by 2020, at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2020, as per Plastemart with reference to Micro Market Monitor.

The demand for cast polymer is expected to increase owing to the high demand from the building, construction & remodeling industry, continuous improvement in the quality of products, and rise in the demand for technically-advanced materials.

Cast polymers is a group term used for different product types that are used in residential as well as non-residential areas. It consists of solid surfaces, cultured marble and, engineered stone. These products are man-made, chemically-composed, and use naturally available components. Cast polymers have a wide range of variety, which includes bath tubs, kitchen slabs, kitchen & bathroom sinks, bathroom counter tops, and firewall surrounds, among others. These products are used in houses, schools, laboratories, and offices, among other places.

Global cast polymer market has witnessed a significant growth in past few years. Cast polymers are mostly preferable because of their high mechanical properties. Nowadays, the cast polymer resins are also widely used in residential as well as non-residential segments. The growing demand for technically-advanced products and superior quality products is also driving the market. Chemicals that are used in the making of cast polymers are alumina trihydrate, calcium carbonate, silica, resins, natural quartz/stones, and other components. The solid surface segment has the largest share of 46.1% in the cast polymers market. However, the engineered stone segment is the fastest-growing product at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2020. This is due to the fact that an engineered stoned is a look-alike of the naturally-available products, and it is available in many colors, in a wide variety, and in various shapes compared to natural stones, marble, and granite.

The global cast polymers market, by type, was valued at USВ6349.7 mln in 2014, which is projected to reach USD8987.1 mln by 2020, at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2020. In this report, the global cast polymers market has been segmented by type, material, and region. Asia Pacific holds the largest share in this market due to the larger number of constructions and remolding in this region as compared to others.

As MRC wrote before, growing demand from automotive and electronics is expected to boost growth in the global plastics market. The growing practice of using plastic pipes in the construction of new oil and gas transmission lines is also creating good growth opportunities for the market. Plastic pipes corrode much slower than cast-iron, since they are drastically less reactive than metal pipes, and are less brittle.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belgian chemicals group Solvay posted a better-than-expected third quarter core profit (REBITDA), boosted by strong sales of specialty polymers to electronics manufacturers and a weaker euro, said Reuters.

Core profit rose 14 percent to 524 million euros (USD572.78 million) in the third quarter, ahead of a Reuters poll of seven analysts which had produced an average forecast of 490 million.

The group repeated it expected "solid" core profit (REBITDA) growth in 2015 though it added that the fourth quarter would not be as strong as the third, because of seasonal effects.

Solvay said sales of specialty polymers to smart device manufacturers nearly doubled compared with the same period last year, while sales volumes to automotive clients also increased. The group said its Advanced Formulations unit, which makes products for oil and gas drilling as well as chemicals used in the food industry, saw a drop in quarterly profits due to the downturn in activity in the North American oil and gas industry.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF, SK Chemicals (Seoul) and Solvay are in discussions, which may lead to the construciton of a hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide (HPPO) project at Ulsan. SKC, a chemical unit under SK Group, has sought to use BASF's production license to build a propylene oxide facility with a 400,000-ton capacity in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers пїЅ fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Pakistan now faces the possibility of being able to export polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to the European Union (EU) as the EU did not re-impose the countervailing tax (CVT), reported GV.

This exemption comes after Pakistan’s successful dispute settlement proceeding in the World Trade Organization against the EU.

A senior officer in the Ministry of Commerce, who was part of the negotiations, said the EU has decided in principle to not re-impose the CVT on Pakistan’s PET export after arguments that the imposition of the duty is based on flawed investigations.

The EU had imposed the CVT on the Pakistani PET in December 2010 after it initiated an investigation against imports of PET originating in Iran, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The complaint was lodged in July 2009 by the PET committee of plastics in Europe on behalf of producers representing more than 50% of the EU production. The CVT was imposed in 2010. Before imposition of the CVT, PET from Pakistan to the EU was a major value-added product and accounted for 1% of Pakistan’s total exports.

The PET resin exports of Pakistan to the EU in 2008-09 and 2009-10 were over 85,000 tons, approximately worth USD124 million, before the imposition of CVT.

However, subsequent to the imposition of CVT, PET exports to the EU have reduced from over 85,000 tons to below 15,000 tons per annum. Pakistan was involved in a dispute in December 2014 at the WTO on the grounds that the move was against EU’s commitment. Pakistan considered the move a result of flawed investigation conducted by the EU.

As MRC informed previously, in April 2015, EU imposed preliminary and final countervailing duties due to which Pakistan has lost approximately USD615 million PET exports to EU in five years as the annual exports are less than 15,000 tons despite the fact that PET is covered by the GSP Plus status.
MRC