BASF invests in new mobile emissions catalysts production facility in Shanghai

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is investing in a new production facility for mobile emissions catalysts at its Pudong site in Shanghai, China, as per the company's press release.

The new 30,000-square-meter facility will house multiple manufacturing lines, providing a full range of emissions control technologies for heavy-duty and light-duty vehicle manufacturers. Construction is underway, with start-up planned for the end of 2019.

The plant will manufacture innovative catalysts for gasoline and diesel vehicles in the growing Chinese market. The catalysts will help automotive customers meet more stringent emission control requirements ahead of China Stage 6 implementation in 2020.

"BASF is committed to supporting customers in China with state-of-the-art environmental catalysts solutions," said Dr. Stephan Kothrade, President Functions Asia Pacific, President and Chairman Greater China, BASF. "We want to greatly contribute to China’s three-year plan to protect blue skies, with advanced mobile emissions catalysts that meet the strictest environmental regulation requirements in China."

“BASF continues to support strong business growth in China through production capacity and innovation capabilities to meet local customer needs," said Dr. Dirk Demuth, Senior Vice President, Mobile Emissions Catalysts, BASF. "Our new facility in China will enable BASF to support our customers in this growing market. The new facility offers flexibility for future expansion and upgrades to adapt to market requirements in the years ahead."

As MRC informed previously, in December 2017, BASF’s Coatings division inaugurated a new automotive coatings plant at its Bangpoo manufacturing site, Samutprakarn province, Thailand. The new plant is the first BASF automotive coatings manufacturing facility in ASEAN, and will produce solventborne and waterborne automotive coatings to meet growing market demand in the region.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of more than EUR60 billion in 2017. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - A blast at a chemical plant in China’s northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region has killed three people and severely injured six, said Reuters with reference to the official Tianshan news website Wednesday report.

The explosion occurred when Xinjiang Xinzhi Energy Chemicals Co tested a rotary lime kiln on Tuesday afternoon, the report said.

The deadly accident comes about one month after a gas leak at a plant owned by a ChemChina subsidiary caused a blast that killed 23 people in the eastern Hebei province.

As MRC informed before, in July 2018, an explosion at a chemical plant in China killed 19 people and injured 12. It was not clear then what caused the blast at Yibin Hengda Technology in an industrial park several hours southeast of Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

China has kicked off measures to improve industrial safety, ramping up checks over the last year, following some high-profile incidents at coal mines and chemical plants.

In 2015, an explosion in a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 165 people. Last year a blast at a petrochemical plant in eastern Shandong province killed eight people and injured nine.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global chemical producer, announced that its joint venture has received all regulatory clearance required from the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) for the proposed joint asset purchase of M&G USA Corp. and its affiliated debtors, said the company.

On 21 March 2018, Indorama Ventures, Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V., and Far Eastern Investment (Holding) Ltd., entered into a joint venture agreement to acquire M&G’s Corpus Christi plant through Corpus Christi Polymers LLC. The acquisition also includes certain M&G intellectual property, and a desalination/boiler plant.

The Corpus Christi plant will have nominal capacity of 1.1 million and 1.3 million metric tons per year of PET and PTA, respectively. The three JV parties will each receive one-third of the capacity of PTA and PET produced. Each of the partners will procure raw materials independently, while also independently selling and distributing their corresponding PTA and PET. The plant is the largest in North America with state of art technology and is a vertically integrated PTA-PET production facility.

Mr. Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures commented, “The FTC’s regulatory clearance represents an important milestone and a giant step towards serving the growing market needs of Recyclable PET for many years to come. With the approvals in place, we look forward to assist and fast track the construction and create hundreds of jobs to workers with this project.”
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers (T&AP), a business unit of the DowDuPont Specialty Products Division, has announced its intention to extend the high temperature nylon (Zytel HTN PPA) polymerisation capacity at its Uentrop facility in Hamm, Germany, as per GV.

Details on the current and future capacity of the plant were not disclosed.

According to the company, adding capacity to the Uentrop line opened in 2016 is a further step in its long-term investment strategy to enhance its polymerisation and compounding capabilities. In 2015, the nylon businesses announced a 10 % capacity increase for Zytel HTN polymer at the Richmond, VA, USA, site. In 2017, DuPont T&AP also increased compounding capacity for its high-temperature nylon grades at its Mechelen site in Belgium.

"With manufacturing assets in all regions including world-scale production and compounding sites for its speciality nylons, DuPont T&AP is a reliable global supplier with a strong and balanced regional footprint," said Thomas Philipon, Global Product Line Manager, DuPont Zytel HTN. "In Europe, our Uentrop site - which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018 - stands as a flagship example of the business’ commitment to high-quality and consistent product supply for our Zytel HTN PPA products."

Zytel HTN PPA grades retain good stiffness, strength and mechanical properties despite exposure to high temperatures, chemicals and moisture, making them ideal for various demanding applications in automotive components and systems, connectors and bushings. In consumer electronics, Zytel HTN high-performance polyamides enable designers to create lighter and thinner products when used in the design of cell phones, tablets and other hand-held devices, said the company.

As MRC reported earlier, rising demand for DuPont’s Tyvek nonwoven materials has prompted DuPont Safety and Construction, a business unit of DowDuPont Inc., to invest more than USD400 million to expand capacity for the materials at its facility in Luxembourg. The expansion will include the addition of a new building and third operating line at the site. The new capacity will come on stream in 2021.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over January shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in the Russian market in the early week. Expectedly producers announced an increase of prices for supplies to the domestic market, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Most likely SPVC prices in the Russian market reached their minimum in December and will grow next year under the pressure of several factors.

January, like the year before, will be the first month of price increases next year. Russian producers intend to achieve a price increase of Rb1,500 - 2,000/tonne, which is partly due to the increase in the VAT rate.

Demand for PVC from the domestic market remains at a good level as for the current time of the year. Some converters even purchased additional volumes of PVC in December. Stocks inventories at Russian producers are insignificant due to export. In particular, since October, under the pressure of the seasonal factor, Russian producers began to actively increase export sales in order to balance the domestic market in the face of declining demand.

November export sales of SPVC reached a record level over the past few years and amounted to about a third of the total monthly production volume. About 30,500 tonnes were shipped to foreign markets in November (excluding deliveries to the countries of the Customs Union) versus 16,700 tonnes in October. Total PVC exports from the country were about 135,5200 tonnes in the first eleven months of this year, up 62% year on year.

There is no import alternative for the Russian consumer even taking into account the January price increase for SPVC. Key PVC suppliers in past years - manufacturers from China significantly reduced export prices in December, in some cases, prices for container shipments of acetylene PVC reached $785/tonne, DAP Moscow. But even such low export prices of Chinese PVC did not allow competing with Russian PVC.

Some Russian producers sdaid the growth of the January contract prices of SPVC was a result of the increase in the VAT rate from 2019 by 2%. The current weakening of rouble against the dollar also affected the situation.

Overall, January deals for K64/67 PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb71 500 - 75 000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for lots of less than 500 tonnes. Deals for K70 PVC were discussed on average up by Rb1,500-2,000/tonne.
MRC