ACI postpones 2021 convention

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) announced that it is postponing its annual convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Chemweek.

The next in-person meeting will be held in January 2022 in Orlando, Florida. The decision was made after extensive surveying of member companies and in-depth assessments of travel policies and regulations. ACI asks members to continue to save the week of 25 January 2021 for a members-only ACI Virtual Summit.

This event will feature meetings of ACI’s expert standing committees, annual State of the Association address, policy and issue briefings, educational sessions on topics essential to the cleaning products industry, and opportunities to network with industry peers. “As the cleaning products industry has demonstrated over the last several months, we are resilient, we are essential to public health and well-being. and we will adapt successfully in the year ahead,” said Melissa Hockstad, ACI President and CEO.

As MRC informed earlier, crude prices were holding lower in midday US trading Sept. 25 as the market eyed rising COVID-19 cases in Europe as well as fresh hopes for more US stimulus spending. In Europe, resurgence of the coronavirus is prompting governments to reintroduce new restrictions on movement. Around 40% of Madrid's intensive care capacity is now taken up by people suffering from the virus, while on Sept. 24 France, the UK and Spain reported 16,096, 6,634 and 2,321 new cases, respectively -- the highest totals for those countries since spring.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF says it has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for Ventraco's (Amsterdam, Netherlands) rejuvenator products that enable complete recycling of old asphalt, branded RheoFalt, said Chemweek.

The agreement excludes Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands, where Ventraco will continue to supply the products, BASF says.

Road construction is growing worldwide alongside increased mobility, and the demand for new roads is accompanied by the need to renew existing pavement due to binder aging and compromised crack resistance on the surface, the company says. If the old asphalt is not recycled, the result is large quantities of waste, it says.

"Many roads will have to be renewed in the next few years. We estimate that the market volume worldwide and especially in the region of EMEA will increase sharply in the near future,” says Mario Sandor, head/business management, asphalt performance at BASF. The agreement makes it possible for “us to offer a sustainable solution for road construction and to meet these growing needs," Sandor adds.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF-YPC undertook a planned shutdown at its polystyrene (PS) unit in China on May 5, 2020. The unit restarted on June 20, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the PS unit a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 225,870 tonnes in the first half of 2020, down by 8% year on year. PS consumption increased by 2% year on year in June 2020, totalling 39,590 tonnes.

BASF-YPC Company Limited (BASF-YPC) is a 50-50 joint venture between BASF and Sinopec, founded in 2000, with a total investment of approximately USD5.5 billion. The integrated petrochemical site produces about three million tons of high-quality chemicals and polymers for the Chinese market annually. The products serve the rapid-growing demand in multiple industries, including agriculture, construction, electronics, pharmaceutical, hygiene, automotive and chemical manufacturing. All BASF-YPC plants are interconnected in order to use products, by-products and energy in the most efficient way, to save cost and to minimize the environmental impact. BASF-YPC posted sales of approximately CNY 19.6 billion in 2019 and employed 1,942 people as of the end of the year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- 3M announced that August sales increased 2% year-on-year (YOY) despite one fewer business day, and said it expects third-quarter revenues to be 2.5-3.7% higher than the 2019 quarter, said Chemweek.

"While significant global economic uncertainty remains due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company estimates, with one month left in the quarter, its sales to be in the range of USD8.2 to USD8.3 billion for the third-quarter," 3M says. The company reported sales of USD8.0 billion the third quarter of 2019.

Sales increased 23% in Health Care, 6% in Safety and Industrial, and 3% in Consumer, while Transportation and Electronics declined 11%. Organic local-currency sales increased 6% in Health Care, 5% in Safety and Industrial, and 2% in Consumer, while Transportation and Electronics declined 11%.

On a geographic basis, sales increased 7% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and 4% in the Americas, while Asia Pacific declined 2%. Organic local-currency sales were flat in both the Americas (including the US, up 1%) and EMEA, while Asia Pacific declined 5% (including China up 6% and Japan down 15%).

The company suspended its guidance due to uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been reporting monthly revenue figures.

As MRC informed earlier, SIBUR and 3M have signed an agreement to cooperate in product development and polymer recycling at SIBUR’s PolyLab. Thanks to their durability, strength, eco-friendliness and other advantages, such polymers as polyethylene and polypropylene are some of the most widely used synthetic materials, popular with the construction, utilities, automotive, healthcare, food and other industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia and the US continue to clash over the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, with Moscow hitting out at calls from Washington for the creation of a "coalition" of nations aimed at blocking completion of the project, said S&P Global.

A little over 150 km of Nord Stream 2 remains to be laid in Danish and German waters, but with the political debate becoming ever more frenzied, it remains unclear how and when the pipeline will be completed.

Nord Stream 2 would double the capacity of the gas corridor via the Baltic Sea to Germany to 110 Bcm/year and would reduce the need for Russia to use Ukraine as a transit country for gas supply to Europe.

On Sept. 24, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the hardening US opposition to the pipeline, saying Germany should ignore calls for the project to be halted. Those calls have followed the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Aug. 20.

"I think the time has now come for us to calm down on this topic," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency. "This issue has now become a matter of honor for Germany," he said.

Opinion in Germany is divided, with Chancellor Angela Merkel thought to still be in favor of the project despite calls from across the the political spectrum for Nord Stream 2 to be halted following the Navalny incident.

But the US has intensified its efforts to bring down the project in recent weeks on top of measures already in place that threaten sanctions against companies laying Nord Stream 2 or helping the pipelaying process.

As MRC informed earlier, global oil refiners reeling from months of lackluster demand and an abundance of inventories are cutting fuel production into the autumn because the recovery in demand from the impact of coronavirus has stalled, according to executives, refinery workers, and industry analysts. Refiners cut output by as much as 35% in spring as coronavirus lockdowns destroyed the need for travel. As lockdowns eased, refiners increased output slowly through late August. But in top fuel consumers the United States and elsewhere, refiners have been decreasing rates for the last several weeks in response to increased inventories, a sustained lack of demand, and in response to natural disasters.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical maker Tokuyama Corp. will set up a fifty-fifty joint venture in Taiwan with a local firm to manufacture high-purity isopropyl alcohol, expecting growing demand for the chip-cleaning solution in the expanding semiconductor market there, said Chemweek.

Formosa Tokuyama Advanced Chemicals Co. is scheduled to be established in Kaohsiung in October, with Formosa Plastics Corp. investing half of the capital NTD1 billion (USD34 million), the Tokyo-based company said.

The joint venture is expected to start manufacturing high-purity IPA in January 2022 for the local market, with a capacity of 30,000 tons per year, using the partner's propylene as a raw material, a Tokuyama official told NNA.

Tokuyama set up a local unit, Taiwan Tokuyama Corp., in 1996 to supply local chipmakers with its high-purity IPA, using near-complete products from Japan, while the new venture will have an integrated production system, procuring a raw material in Taiwan, according to the official.

As MRC informed earlier, Formosa Petrochemical Corp has slashed runs at its 540,000-bpd Mailiao oil refinery to about 68%, down from 80%, following last week’s shutdown of a secondary unit due to a fire.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

MRC