Covestro launches flagship store on Alibaba

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro has started a cooperation with Chinese internet giant Alibaba. As of 23 April 2018, the company offers its polymer materials in a flagship store on 1688.com, an online platform of Alibaba, as per GV.

The platform is the biggest online business-to-business marketplace in China. Under the link covestrochina.1688.com, polycarbonate as well as pre-products for polyurethane foams, coatings and adhesives will become available. With a maximum quantity order, the flagship store is more tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized customers. Therefore, transactions will be of relatively small volume. As a start, Covestro will offer around 50 products on the Chinese online platform. The second wave of products to launch is already in planning. The company announced that new forms of online commerce will contribute up to EUR 1 billion in accumulated sales until end of 2019.

"Digitalisation rapidly changes customer needs and preferences and offers new business opportunities, especially in the fast growing Chinese economy," said Dr. Markus Steilemann, Chief Commercial Officer and future CEO of Covestro. "For us, China plays a more and more important role not only in terms of market size but also with regard to innovation in relevant markets and technologies. With the launch of an online store on Alibaba we follow our strategy by innovating our business models in close cooperation with our customers."

"We want to make the customer experience more convenient and efficient. Particularly in a market like China, which is at the forefront of digitalisation, we need to be where the customers are and will be. 1688.com is that place," added Xiaobin Zhong, Head of Commercial Operations for the Coatings, Adhesives and Specialties business of Covestro in the Asia Pacific region.

As MRC reported earlier, on 1 September, 2015, Bayer MaterialScience became known as Covestro. The plans for the carve-out of Bayer MaterialScience were announced in September 2014.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rotork has received major contracts to supply electric and pneumatic valve actuators and valve gearboxes to Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. Ltd. for flow control in its new refinery and petrochemicals complex, one of the largest in China, at Changxing Island in Dalian City, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The latest contract involves approximately 2,000 explosion-proof electric actuators to operate gate valves and ball valves in tank farms. All these units are Rotork IQ non-intrusive intelligent multi-turn actuators with double-sealed IP68 watertight protection for enhanced reliability, an important consideration in the site’s saline ambient environment. In addition to providing optimum reliability, the IQ actuator is also designed for advanced functionality, particularly in those areas associated with predictive maintenance and asset management.

IQ actuator dataloggers record detailed operating data including valve torque profiles, the number of valve operations and alarms. The ability to download and analyze this information can make a vital contribution to effective long-term asset management of the refinery. The IQ actuators are combined with Rotork Gears IB multi-turn and IW quarter-turn secondary gearboxes to meet the operating demands of the wide range of valve sizes and types.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe has announced price increases for all polycarbonate (PC) grades, as per the company's press release.

Effective July 1, 2018, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR100 per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo last raised its prices for PC grades on 1 May 2018, as stated below:

- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR70 per metric ton.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.4 billion in net sales in 2017, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,200 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro may extend the deadline for potential bidders for a 60 percent stake in four refineries to sign non-disclosure agreements, a person with knowledge of the matter said, reported Reuters.

A ruling from Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski this week requiring Congress to approve all sales programs of state-controlled companies threw up another roadblock to the effort to sell the refineries, which had attracted only lackluster interest from potential buyers.

Petrobras did not respond to requests for comment.

The deadline for potential buyers to sign nondisclosure agreements for the refinery partnerships - a first step in the sale process that does not signal firm interest - had been set for next Monday, July 2, but the person said it may be extended.

In a securities filing released on June 18, Petrobras said that five companies had signed nondisclosure agreements, a step that allows them to access more detailed information about the refineries.
Reuters reported last month that Petrobras’ decision to cut diesel prices in response to a truckers’ protest was spooking potential refinery buyers.

Brazilian conglomerate Ultrapar Participacoes SA, Cosan SA Industria e Comercio and Cepsa SA, an energy company controlled by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co, are among the five companies that signed non disclosure agreements, one source with knowledge of the matter said.

Another source said Petrobras hopes to get more potential bidders to sign non-disclosure agreements before proceeding to the next phase of the refineries sale.

Despite the Lewandowski decision, which has cast a pall over efforts to sell Brazilian state assets in general, a third source within the oil company said it still intends to sell the refineries and is working to conclude the process, as approved by the board.

The refineries are expected to be sold in two regional blocks: one in Brazil’s northeast and another in the southern region of the country. Each refinery cluster Petrobras put up for sale has earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a common gauge of operating profits, of USD1 billion, according to a fourth person with knowledge of the process.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevented Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fund Energy Ningbo Co has restarted its methanol-to-olefin (MTO) plant in Changzhou City, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on July 2, 2018 following a turnaround. The plant was taken off-line for maintenance on May 5, 2018.

Located at Zhejiang, China, the MTO unit has an ethylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Ningbo Fund Energy Co. Ltd. manufactures and distributes petrochemical products. The Company produces ethylene glycol, polypropylene, and other products.
MRC