Japanese firms to acquire Mitsubishi Chemical polymer flocculant business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As part of portfolio management reforms based on the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group’s medium-term management plan APTSIS 20, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has concluded agreements to transfer its polymer flocculant sales business to MT AquaPolymer, Inc. and Hymo Corporation, said the company.

Once the transfer is complete, the two companies will outsource the manufacture of polymer flocculants to MCC. The transfer is subject to obtaining approval from competition authorities.

MTAP is a leading Japanese manufacturer of polymer flocculants and handles the production and sale of the same types of products as those to be transferred. Hymo is a water treatment solution manufacturer that has a record of joint research and development with MCC on some of the products to be transferred.

These agreements have been reached in the expectation that the handover to the two companies of extensive sales networks built up by MCC and certain manufacturing technologies will reinforce the polymer flocculant business, which is a strength of the two companies.

As MRC informed earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, halted methyl methacrylate (MMA) production in Otake, Japan in mid-September for scheduled repairs. This production with a capacity of 110,000/tonne of MMA per year will be closed until mid-November.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS) used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, September total production of unmixed PVC grew to 86,000 tonnes from 75,500 tonnes a month earlier, SayanskKhimPlast and RusVinyl increased their capacity utilisation. Overall output of polymer were 718,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020 versus 720,500 tonnes a year earlier, only two producers raised their production volumes, and RusVinyl cut its output.

Mitsubishi Chemical, a Japanese integrated chemical company, was established on October 1, 1990 through the merger of Mitsubishi Kasei and Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Due to its wide range of activities, it is one of the ten leading chemical companies in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol South Africa has partnered with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (the Alliance) to extend its efforts to lessen the impact of litter on the environment, as per the company's press release.

In celebration of World Cleanup Day 2020, Sasol South Africa participated in the ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP, a global initiative to remove litter, one piece at a time from the environment.

“We encourage Sasol South Africa employees, partners and individuals to participate and spread the word about ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP. Our actions, bolstered by measurement over the two-week period, will help create positive change in the effort to rid the planet of litter,” said Thabiet Booley, Senior Vice President of Sasol’s Base Chemicals business. “Litter in the environment is a global challenge with local solutions, and we’re committed to safely joining together to reduce waste in our communities. Through the ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP initiative participants may choose to clean up on their own, with a small group, or with family members. Whomever participants choose to participate with, everyone is encouraged to follow all local and regional COVID-19 guidelines to ensure the safest experience possible.

Beginning on World Cleanup Day 2020 (Saturday, September 19) and extending for the ensuing two weeks, volunteers from the Alliance, employees of participating member and non-member companies, partners and individuals around the world rallied to discover, identified, collected and disposed of any litter they found. Leveraging the global network of the Alliance’s nearly 50 members, the ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP expects to educate more than one million individuals about the importance of litter clean up. The two-week window to participate in the ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP gave participants the choice to take part when they were comfortable in doing so and physically distanced given their local communities’ COVID-19 safety guidance.

Litterati, winner of the Alliance and Plug and Play’s incubator program in the United States, developed the app that serves as the centerpiece to unite ALL_TOGETHER GLOBAL CLEANUP participants. The Litterati app allows for pickup efforts to be monitored with concrete data, which in turn makes it possible for changes of lasting impact—from behavioural shifts to corporate packaging changes and more. Litterati uses artificial intelligence technology to identify the litter captured in geo-tagged photos. All participants will use the app to upload photos of each piece of litter collected in order to measure and track participation throughout the two-week campaign.

In addition to Sasol South Africa employees, partners such as Plastics SA, which represents all sectors of the South African Plastics Industry including polymer producers and importers, converters, machine suppliers, fabricators and recyclers, will support the Litterati campaign for all inland clean-ups scheduled until end October 2020. In KwaZulu Natal, the Inkwazi Isu project, which is a collaboration between Sasol and various stakeholders aiming to holistically address the pollution problem in the Amanzimtoti Catchment area, utilised the app in support of clean up campaigns planned for World Clean-Up day on 19 September. Sasol, as a member of the South African Initiative to End Plastic Waste which is aimed at value chain collaboration to end plastic waste in the environment will also be able to use the app.

As MRC reported before, in early October 2020, LyondellBasell and Sasol agreed to form a joint venture (JV), under which LyondellBasell will pay USD2 billion to acquire 50% of Sasol’s new 1.5-million metric tons/year steam cracker, and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) plants with combined capacity for 900,000 metric tons/year, as well as associated infrastructure, at Lake Charles.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has been having some technical issues at its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Aubette, France since September, reported NCT with reference to sources close with the matter.

Meanwhile, this information was not directly confirmed by the company at the time of publication.

Sources reported, “Ongoing issues interrupted production at the Aubette plant. Yet, the company is currently supplying its customers from its other site at Wesseling in Germany.”

The Aubette plant has a production capacity of 350,000 tons/year.

As MRC informed before, in early September 2020, LyondellBasell and Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group commenced operations at their 1.1-million metric tons/year ethylene plant and associated polyolefins complex at Panjin in Liaoning Province, northeastern China. The cost of the project is approximately USD2.6 billion. The two companies in September 2019 established a 50/50 joint venture (JV), Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical Co., for the project.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, August estimated LDPE consumption in Russia rose to 48,460 tonnes from 43,380 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their export LDPE shipments. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption rose to 383,500 tonnes in January-August 2020, up by 6% year on year. Despite the long outages, LDPE production increased, and imports also rose.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 24% in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2019 and reached about 26,800 tonnes. Sales of Ukrainian PVC to foreign markets increased by 4% year on year, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) imports into the Ukrainian market decreased to 1,700 tonnes from 2,000 tonnes in August, with North American resin accounting for the decrease in shipments. Overall SPVC imports reached 26,800 tonnes in January-September 2020, compared to 35,500 tonnes a year earlier.

At the same time, the high level of capacity utilisation allowed the Ukrainian producers to increase export volumes. European producers with the share of about 78% of the total imports over the stated period were the key suppliers of PVC to the Ukrainian market. Producers from the USA with the share of about 18% were the second largest suppliers.

Last month, Karpatneftekhim increased the volume of external sales, the export sales of Ukrainian PVC amounted to 13,400 tonnes against 6,000 tonnes in August. Overall, about 124,300 tonnes of PVC were shipped for export in January-September 2020, compared to 119,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has released preliminary figures for the third quarter and says it expects to post a net loss of EUR2.12 billion (USD2.50 billion) compared with a net profit of EUR911 million in the year-earlier period due to non-cash impairments and restructuring provisions, below current analyst estimates, said Chemweek.

However, the company says its operating performance was “better than expected” during the third quarter and expects to record a 5% sales decline to EUR13.81 billion from EUR14.56 billion in the third quarter of 2019. This was mainly driven by negative currency effects, the company says.

BASF also expects to record a third-quarter EBIT loss of EUR2.64 billion compared with a positive EUR1.34 billion in the prior-year quarter due to the impairments and restructuring provisions, below analysts’ consensus. The company says it identified fixed-asset impairments of EUR2.8 billion due to “considerably weaker macroeconomic developments as a consequence of COVID-19.” The impairments were largely the result of weaker demand from the automotive and aviation industries, which impacted the surface technologies segment in particular, and a continued oversupply of basic chemicals, which put pressure on margins in the chemicals and materials segments. In addition, impairments were recognized in the agricultural solutions segment as part of measures to streamline the production network. In BASF’s Other segment, provisions were recognized for the realignment of the global business services unit.

The sale of the assets and liabilities of the construction chemicals business and the related disposal gain will not be reflected until BASF reports its fourth-quarter results, the company says. Payments received until 30 September in connection with the construction chemicals divestment are, however, included in BASF’s statement of cash flows for the third quarter under cash flows from investing activities.

BASF says its third-quarter EBIT before special items is expected to be EUR581 million, above analysts’ consensus but well below the figure for the prior-year quarter, EUR1.06 billion. EBIT before special items rose by EUR355 million in the third quarter from EUR226 million in the previous quarter.

The year-on-year decrease in EBIT before special items was primarily due to the continued weak earnings contributions from the chemicals and materials segments due to ongoing high pressure on margins, BASF says. The nutrition and care, agricultural solutions, and industrial solutions segments and Other segment also recorded lower earnings compared with the prior-year quarter. EBIT before special items in the surface technologies segment was almost on a level with the prior-year period.

BASF’s surface technologies, materials, industrial solutions, and chemicals segments exceeded average analyst estimates for EBIT before special items in the third quarter, the company says. EBIT before special items was on a level with analyst estimates in the agricultural solutions segment but fell short of analyst estimates in the nutrition and care segment, BASF says. EBIT before special items of the Other segment “was more negative than analysts expected,” BASF says.

BASF has provided an outlook for the fourth quarter and full year. It expects a further improvement in EBIT before special items compared with the third quarter of 2020. The expected result would exceed current average analyst estimates for the fourth quarter, BASF says. The company expects full-year sales of EUR57–58 billion, down from EUR59.32 billion in 2019, mainly due to weaker demand as a consequence of the pandemic. BASF anticipates EBIT before special items of EUR3.0–3.3 billion for 2020, down from EUR4.6 billion in 2019. “As well as weaker demand, the company expects pressure on margins to continue, especially for basic chemicals, which will be partially offset by fixed-cost savings,” BASF says.

The outlook is based on various assumptions about the global economic environment in 2020, BASF says. The company assumes a decline in worldwide GDP and industrial production of 5.0%. It anticipates a worldwide decline in chemical production of 2.5% in 2020. It also bases its assumptions on an average euro/dollar exchange rate of $1.15 per euro in 2020 and an average annual Brent crude price of $40/bbl. “BASF’s forecast assumes that severe restrictions on economic activity to contain the coronavirus pandemic, such as lockdowns, are not re-introduced,” the company says.

BASF is due to release third-quarter results on 28 October 2020 and full-year results on 26 February 2021.

As MRC reported earlier, COVID-19 occurred at an already challenging time for the petrochemical industry and has required it to take some drastic actions, said the leaders of the worldпїЅs two biggest chemical companies, BASF and Dow, on Monday at the 54th European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) annual meeting, which is taking place in a virtual format. The pandemic has also accelerated key industry trends, particularly those around sustainability and the environment, they said.

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