Celanese to acquire SO.F.TER Group

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian compounder SO.F.TER. Group has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Celanese Corporation. Celanese will acquire the complete product portfolio of thermoplastic elastomers and engineering thermoplastics as well as all customer agreements and all manufacturing, technology and commercial facilities, reported GV.

The Italian group is one of the largest independent compounders worldwide and the acquisition will nearly double the number of Celanese’s global engineered materials product platforms. The companies have not disclosed financial details. Celanese expects to complete the acquisition in Q4/2016, pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Until closing, Celanese and SO.F.TER. Group will continue to operate as independent businesses.

SO.F.TER. Group began operations in 1980 in Italy by manufacturing polymeric compounds for the shoemaking industry. Today, SO.F.TER. Group has approximately 550 employees in Italy, Mexico, Brazil and the United States and has 55 production lines across four manufacturing facilities in Europe and four manufacturing facilities in the Americas.

"This is the next step in the evolution of Celanese to further extend our global leadership position in the engineered materials market," said Scott Sutton, Celanese executive vice president and president of Materials Solutions. "SO.F.TER. Group is a leader in the design, development and production of ETPs and TPEs with a fast and flexible customer-oriented business model that will integrate well within the Materials Solutions core of Celanese. This acquisition continues Celanese’s focus on bringing technical expertise, production and compounding capabilities closer to our valued customers by extending our footprint with industry leading products and capabilities in Italy, Mexico, Brazil and the United States."

Celanese expects to integrate SO.F.TER. Group’s full product portfolio and production capabilities into the Celanese engineered materials business.

As MRC informed before, continuing the company's strategy to add production facilities close to growing demand, in late September 2016, Celanese Corporation began production in its newest vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) production unit. The unit is located at the Celanese manufacturing facility on Jurong Island, Singapore, and will support the growing demand for ecologically friendly materials in the Southeast Asia region including Australia, India and New Zealand.

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 had 2015 net sales of USD5.7 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of products from polymers dropped in September 2016 by 2.3% from August, with pipes and films producers accounting for the decrease in production. The index of the production increase of products from polymers was 7.8% year on year in the first nine months of 2016, reported MRC analysts.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, September production of plastic pipes, hoses and fittings dropped to 55,200 tonnes from 56,400 tonnes a month earlier. In January-September 2016, overall output of these products totalled 422,000 tonnes, up by 8.8% year on year.

Last month's production of unreinforced and non-combined films decreased to 89,100 tonnes from 90,900 tonnes in August. Output of films rose in the first nine months of 2016 by 5% year on year, totalling 709,700 tonnes.

September production of boards, sheets and non-porous films grew to 26,900 tonnes, compared to 25,500 tonnes a month earlier. In January-September 2016, overall output of these products increased to 219,200 tonnes, up by 10% year on year.

Last month's production of boards, sheets and polymer porous films was 22,500 tonnes, compared to 21,500 tonnes in August. Overall output of these polymer products rose in the first nine months of 2016 by 2.3% year on year to 179,600 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian companies reduced the production of basic chemicals by 3.2% in September compared with August. However, total index of production of basic chemicals in the first nine months of the year increased, as per Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals decreased by 3.2% in comparison with the August index, with the least decrease accounted for xylenes and ethylene. Thus, the growth of the production of basic chemicals remained positive and reached 3.5% in January - September of the current year.
September production of ethylene was 221,000 tonnes compared with 251,000 tonnes in August on the back of scheduled maintenance works at Sibur-Kstovo and Kazanorgsintez. Total production of ethylene in Russia in January-September 2016 was about 2.1 m tonnes, up 4.6% year on year.

September production of benzene decreased to 101,000 tonnes compared to 104,000 tonnes in August, which was also a result of the shutdown at Sibur-Kstovo and Kazanorgsintez. Total benzene production over the first nine months of the year was 896,000 tonnes, up 1.4% from the same period in 2015.

Russia's production of xylols in September decreased to 36,000 tonnes, compared with 47,900 tonnes in August 2016. Production of xylols in January-September 2016 totalled 420,400 tonnes, up 3.3% year on year.
September production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) decreased to 89,200 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) against 96,800 tonnes in August. Reduction of caustic release provided RusVinyl due to the shutdown.
Total production of caustic soda in Russia exceeded 828,000 tonnes in January - September of this year, up 0.7% year on year.

September production of mineral fertilizers was 1.699 m tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients), down 1% from the August level. Russia's production of mineral fertilizers in Jan-September 2016 exceeded 15.2 m tonnes, up 1.4% than in the same time a year earlier. Russia increased production of all types of fertilizers, the exception was only potash production volumes which declined by 7.4%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem has commissioned a new UTEC ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE) production plant at its La Porte, Texas site. The new UTEC plant is scheduled for startup by the end of 2016 and reflects another milestone investment in Braskem's North American growth strategy, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The US UTEC plant will further Braskem's position in the UHMWPE market worldwide and complements the company's existing UTEC product line in Brazil. Braskem sells high performance UHMWPE under the trade name UTEC, developed and produced through Braskem's proprietary technologies.

"Our new UTEC UHMWPE plant in Texas is another step in bringing Braskem closer to our clients with advanced engineered polymers as well as creating additional high-quality engineering and production jobs in La Porte. The UTEC plant start-up scheduled for later this year will increase Braskem's UHMWPE capacity and market share as well as enable us to better serve our existing clients globally. The new plant combined with Braskem's dedicated US Innovation and Technology Center will make Braskem an even more reliable partner for its clients and play a key role in developing new applications for additional market segments," said Christopher Gee, Braskem Global Business Director for UTEC.

Earlier this year, Braskem enhanced its research and development capabilities for UTEC at the company's Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These new capabilities enable Braskem to expand its technical leadership in UHMWPE by providing instrumentation for testing, application development, and new product research.

In commissioning the new UTEC plant, Braskem is now completing the necessary steps to ensure a safe and successful startup. During this phase, the company is concluding functional tests and process control tests to verify performance of controls and integrated safety systems.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Braskem SA will soon decide whether to build a plant in Texas or Pennsylvania to convert low-cost natural gas into polypropylene. The factory would produce at least 1 billion pounds (450,000 metric tons) of resin a year and would be the U.S. polypropylene industry’s first world-scale project in about 12 years, said Mark Nikolich, a vice president at Braskem in 2015. Preliminary engineering is under way for construction at existing Braskem sites in either La Porte, Texas, or Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) eyes to start-up its new paraxylene (PX) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the plant is likely to be started by end-October 2016.

Located at Jamnagar, Gujarat in India, the PX plant has a production capacity of 2.2 MMT/year.

As MRC informed previously, RIL has been buying PX for its new PTA plants at Dahej, which have a combined capacity of 2.24 million mt/year, but with the new PX plant starting up, the company is likely to turn into an exporter.

Besides, in April 2015, RIL successfully put into operation two plants in Dahej, Gujarat, India. The first is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin plant, which consists of two lines with a combined manufacturing capacity of 650 KTA. This is one of the largest bottle-grade PET resin capacity at a single location globally, and consolidates Reliance’s position as a leading PET resin producer with a global capacity of 1.15 MMTPA, the company said. PET resin from the new capacity would find application in packaging for water, carbonated soft drinks, pharmaceuticals and other food and beverages.

The second facility is a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant that provides a capacity of 1,150 KTA. With the commissioning of this plant, also built with Invista technology, Reliance’s total PTA capacity will increase to 3.2 MMTPA, and its global capacity share will rise to 4%.

Paraxylene, the key feedstock for the PTA plant, is sourced from Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery. The PTA plant is also forward integrated with the 650 KTA PET plant in the same complex, lowering operating costs and capturing full chain margins.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and is one of the world's largest producers of polymers (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride). Reliance owns businesses across India engaged in energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail and telecommunications. Reliance is the second most profitable company in India, the second-largest publicly traded company in India by market capitalization and the second largest company in India as measured by revenue after the government-controlled Indian Oil Corporation.
MRC