Clariant China strategy on track to deliver growth

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant announced that the company is making good progress with the implementation of its dedicated China strategy, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

After announcing this strategy in 2016, Clariant continued its commitment to innovation and sustainability in combination with improvements in governance, increased production capacity and more local cooperation. These regional growth initiatives have the potential to double sales from the 2015 baseline until 2021.

“2017 was a successful year for Clariant in China, with 13 % sales growth and an increase in profitability. We are convinced that with our holistic growth initiative we are able to double our sales from the 2015 baseline until 2021 by continuing this successful shift towards adapting ourselves to the Chinese market and business mindset«, said Christian Kohlpaintner, Clariant’s Executive Committee Member responsible for and based in China, at Clariant’s“»Defining the Future 8« Conference in Hangzhou, China.

Since China is fundamental to Clariant’s overall growth strategy, the company acted on various fronts in order to improve its position in this vital market. Its continued commitment to innovation and sustainability has made the company one of the industry leaders in these areas. At a time where the Chinese industry continues to upgrade to a higher value and more technology-driven solutions and prioritizes environmentally-compatible chemical solutions, Clariant is well positioned to capture these growth opportunities.

Capacity expansions, such as the two additional Chinese production facilities for the Additives business unit announced in 2017, enable the company to meet this growing local demand and improve proximity to customers as well as raw material suppliers. This proximity is stimulated further by setting up new joint ventures, partnerships and other forms of cooperation with local Chinese companies and research institutions. Over the past year, Clariant established a joint venture with Tiangang Auxiliary to serve the growing need of process and light stabilizers made in China, signed a major cooperation agreement with China's largest petroleum and chemical company SINOPEC and continued the momentum of local collaborative innovation with the Chinese academic sector by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOE) with Shanghai University.

Clariant also looks to expand its e-commerce sales throughout the Greater China region via an online store on 1688.com, a business-to business (B2B) platform within the Alibaba group.

Finally, a new regional governance model built on Chinese top managers with profit and loss responsibilities greatly improved strategic dialog and alignment. These benefits will be further leveraged within the One Clariant Campus, an integrated regional headquarters and innovation facility being built in Shanghai and scheduled to be completed by 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Biesterfeld Polybass S.p.A. is expanding its long-standing collaboration with Exxon­Mobil Chemical by commencing distribution of Vistalon EPDM rubber in Italy, as per GV.

The two companies have been working together for 33 years. Biesterfeld Performance Rubber currently distributes Vistalon EPDM in Germany, Austria, Benelux, France, Central Europe, Brazil, the former CIS States, and Switzerland.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2016, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) received an order for supply of systems to support a large-scale polyethylene production train for ExxonMobil's Beaumont polyethylene (PE) plant. The new production train is slated to be completed in 2019, and will produce 650,000 tons of PE per year.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican national oil company Pemex is currently processing about 9 percent more crude oil at its domestic refineries than it did in 2017, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Trevino said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Trevino told reporters that current processing levels stand at about 834 Mbpd, which compares to crude processing of about 767 Mbpd last year, according to Pemex.

The executive, who took the reins of the state-run company in November, said he expects processing levels to reach about 900 Mbpd once maintenance plans at two facilities are completed.

Trevino said almost all plants at Pemex’s Ciudad Madero refinery have completed scheduled maintenance, while maintenance at its Minatitlan refinery has experienced some delays.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for April shipments to the CIS countries began last week. Amid the rise in ethylene prices and upcoming shutdowns for maintenance, European producers raised their export prices this month, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The April contract price of ethylene was agreed up by EUR5/tonne from March, which led to an increase of, at least, EUR5/tonne, in PVC production costs. Thus, European producers announced an increase of EUR5-10/tonne in export prices for shipments to the CIS markets.

Demand for PVC was still quite weak from the main consumers because of long winter. At the same time, European producers have not boosted their sales in this direction for the past months. A number of outages for turnarounds are still ahead, some producers deliberately restricted their exports to the CIS countries.

Negotiations over April shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR755-815/tonne FCA, whereas deals were done in the range of EUR750-805/tonne FCA a month earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Private equity firm HIG Capital is merging pigments suppliers Dominion Colour Corp. and Lansco Colors, as per Plasticsnews.

Both Toronto-based Dominion and Lansco of Pearl River, N.Y., sell into the plastics, coatings and specialty ink industries, officials said in an April 9 news release. "Each of us brings our own complementary strengths," Lansco President and CEO Donald Greenwald said in the release. "By combining to create a broader global pigment provider, we will offer a range of organic and inorganic pigments, dispersions and preparations that will be unmatched in the industry."

Greenwald and the Lansco management team will remain in place after the merger. Lansco was founded in 1926 as Landers-Segal Color Co. The firm serves 600 customers, primarily in the United States.

DCC was founded in 1946 and has more than 400 customers in 70 countries. The firm operates plants in Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as technical sales offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Miami-based HIG is majority owner of both DCC and Lansco. It acquired a majority stake in DCC in late 2016. HIG has more than USD23 billion of equity capital under management.

HIG's plastics-related holdings also include Valtris Specialty Chemicals of Independence, Ohio. Valtris is the former polymer additives business of Ferro Corp. which HIG bought for USD154 million cash in 2014.

HIG also owns Cornerstone Chemical, a producer of melamine thermoset resins and of plastic feedstock acrylonitrile in Waggaman, La., and Plastic Fabricating Co., a maker of plastic composite parts for the aerospace market in Wichita, Kan.
MRC