Crocs closing down remaining manufacturing plants in Italy, Mexico

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastic footwear manufacturer Crocs Inc is closing down its two remaining own manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Italy as part of its turnaround program that launched in 2014, as per Plasticsnews.

In an Aug. 8 investors presentation, the Niwot, Colo.-based company said it would outsource all production and close down 160 stores to bring the total number of outlets to 400.

Additionally, to improve profitability, the company is looking to reduce its SG&A (selling, general and administrative) run rate by approximately USD75 million to USD85 million by 2019.

This, Crocs said, will be achieved 70 percent through store closures and 30 percent by increasing operating efficiencies, which will include global ERP (enterprise resource planning) and standardization.

Crocs reported strong sales in the second quarter results of 2018, with sales growing 4.7 percent year-on-year to USD328 million.

The growth was achieved despite a USD22 million loss due to operating fewer stores and business model changes.

The company’s e-commerce grew 23.8 percent, wholesale grew 7.2 percent, and retail comparable store sales increased 7.1 percent.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Mexican state oil company Pemex said its Salina Cruz refinery resumed processing crude on Friday after a power outage had shut it down since Wednesday night, reported Reuters.

The Salina Cruz refinery, Pemex’s largest, has an installed capacity to process 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd).

As of June, the facility was processing slightly more than 200 Mbpd of crude, according to Pemex data.

As MRC informed previously, in June 2018, Petroleos Mexicanos disclosed the results of the bidding process for the rehabilitation and commissioning works to be carried out on the H-Oil Plant located in the Miguel Hidalgo refinery in Tula, in the state of Hidalgo. This project will increase the production of ultra-low sulphur gasoline, in compliance with environmental regulations in effect, and the handling of crude oil for production of other fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- As part of pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, France has announced plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, as per Canplastics.

As reported by French news outlets, Brune Poirson, secretary of state for ecological transition, said the move was one of several to be implemented in coming years, including a deposit-refund scheme for plastic bottles.

"Declaring war on plastic is not enough. We need to transform the French economy," she told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper on Aug. 12.

Under the new plan, products with recycled plastic packaging could cost up to 10 per cent less, Poirson said. “When there’s a choice between two bottles, one made of recycled plastic and the other without, the first will be less expensive,” she said. "When non-recycled plastic will cost more, it will eliminate much of the excessive packaging."

France – which currently recycles around 25 per cent of its plastic – has already outlawed single-use plastic bags in supermarkets unless they can be composted.

The French government also aims to increase taxes on burying trash in landfills while cutting taxes for recycling operations, hoping to address what it sees as the growing problem of tons of plastic finding its way into oceans.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- To combat a global shortage of nylon 6/6 resin, materials firm Invista will build a USD1 billion plant in Shanghai making adiponitrile, a key nylon 6/6 feedstock that’s been in short supply, as per Plasticsnews.

Construction on the plant would begin in 2020, with production starting in 2023, officials with Wichita, Kan.-based Invista said in an Aug. 8 news release. They added that they’ve started the project “to satisfy the strong, local demand for the nylon 6/6 intermediate chemical."

Engineering work for the plant is underway. The plant will have a USD1 billion price tag and annual production capacity of at least 660 million pounds of ADN.

Invista Intermediates Vice President Kyle Redinger has accepted a newly created role dedicated to meeting China’s long-term needs for ADN through capital investments, asset development and commercial arrangements.

"Given China’s strong demand for ADN and its commitment to advanced, energy-efficient technologies, Invista’s butadiene-based ADN is the best choice for capital investment in the region," he said in the release.

Invista "supplies more of the merchant market than any other ADN producer, so we want to ensure those customers have the best technology available," he added.

The last world-scale ADN plant was built more than 35 years ago, according to Redinger, so “this is a special time for the industry, and I’m extremely proud to lead Invista’s efforts to deliver this new facility."

ADN is used to make nylon resins, fibers and other specialty materials such as hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) for coatings. Invista Intermediates president Bill Greenfield added that officials “are pleased by the feedback we have received in the market and are confident we will reach agreements with selected partners over the next few months."

Officials added that, over the past five years, Invista has invested more than USD600 million in China to support the nylon market, including a 475 million pound capacity HMD plant and a 330 million pound capacity resin plant, at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.

Invista ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of fibers and related specialty chemicals and resins.

Higher-than-expected demand for nylon 6/6 — which is used in many automotive parts — and lack of investment in new ADN capacity has created global tightness for nylon 6/6. This in turn has led to higher selling prices for the material, longer delivery times and in some cases has led processors to consider using replacement materials.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has brought on-stream its naphtha cracker following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the company has completed turnaround at the cracker last weekend. The cracker was shut for maintenance in mid-June, 2018.

Located in Osaka, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 450,000 mt/year and a propylene capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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