Alpla plans new injection moulding facility in Missouri

Alpla plans new injection moulding facility in Missouri

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian plastics packaging firm Alpla will build a new 23,000 square-metre manufacturing plant in Kansas City, Missouri, said the company.

Alpla Group, a global packaging solutions manufacturer and recycling specialist headquartered in Hard, Austria, announced that it has selected the Kansas City region for its new 23,000-square-metre manufacturing plant.

In a facility located at the Blue River Commerce Center in Kansas City, Missouri, the regional organisation Alpla will create 75 jobs while continuing to invest in the city over the next several years.

The new addition in Kansas City will be the company’s fourth site in Missouri and the first dedicated to injection moulding. As such, the manufacturer will produce innovative packaging systems, bottles, caps and injection-moulded parts for a wide range of industries. Led by Cushman & Wakefield, the project is slated to begin in late 2021, with a completion date in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The company cited the Kansas City region’s central location and strong community relationships as key drivers for the decision.

Details about project costs or annual capacities in terms of tonnes or pounds were not disclosed.

As MRC informed earlier, Alpla and Krones developed a returnable PET container that provides an optimal environment for sensitive ESL (Extended Shelf Life) products such as juice and milk in the cold chain.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Alpla, with about 21,600 employees, produces custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at 178 sites across 45 countries. It also operates recycling plants for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE).
MRC

Pemex back in red in Q3 2021, needs to lower Dos Bocas refinery cost

Pemex back in red in Q3 2021, needs to lower Dos Bocas refinery cost

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Higher tax payments and foreign exchange losses pushed Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos back into the red in the third quarter, even as crude production recovered somewhat, reported Reuters with reference to the state oil company's statement last week.

Pemex lost 62.8 billion pesos (USD3 billion) compared to a profit of 1.4 billion pesos in the same period last year, and it was also a setback compared to the second quarter, when Pemex logged a net profit of 14.4 billion pesos.

Still, new oil fields in operation since 2019 produced 280,000 barrels per day (bpd), helping to lift average output to 1.74 million bpd in the quarter, Pemex said. Crude processing was up 15% year-on-year in the quarter to 695,000 bpd.

"The timid increase in crude production has not been substantial enough to improve their outlook," said Arturo Carranza, director of energy projects at Akza Consultores.

"Internal factors, like its excessive tax burden, had a negative impact. External factors, like the fluctuation of the dollar versus the peso, also increased costs."

Pemex has the largest tax obligations of any company in Mexico and contributes some 16% to state coffers. Foreign exchange losses were 47 billion pesos for the third quarter, in which Pemex reported revenues of 732.1 billion pesos (USD35.5 billion).

Pemex's financial debt, much of which is issued in dollar-denominated bonds and held widely by investors around the world, stood at USD113 billion. Between October and December, USD1.557 billion in debt repayments are due, the company said.

Alberto Vazquez, chief financial officer, said the company had not ruled out tapping bond markets in 2022, and was in constant talks with the finance ministry. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to revive Pemex and has pumped billions of dollars in financial support for the company. But some financial experts say it is not enough.

"Instead of seeking to further reduce Pemex taxes, they should reduce their operational and financial burden to bring it in line with that of private upstream companies," said Emily Medina, a fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation.

Medina said Mexico should also lower costs in projects like the president's new Dos Bocas refinery, seek efficiency gains and prioritize investment in profitable areas. Lopez Obrador has moved aggressively to strengthen the state's role in the energy sector via Pemex, whose fortunes contrast with those of Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), which President Jair Bolsonaro is considering privatizing.

As MRC wrote previously, in September 2021, Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem said its Mexican subsidiary Braskem Idesa ha reached a new gas supply agreement with Pemex to settle differences between the companies and build a USD400 million ethane terminal.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is a Mexican state-owned oil and gas and petrochemical company. Since the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry in 1938, Pemex has remained a state-owned company and, by law, has exclusive rights to explore and produce oil in the country. Almost 60% of the company's revenues go to the state budget. Petrochemical products include, but are not limited to, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

SABIC plans to restart the currently idled cracker at Wilton Teesside

SABIC plans to restart the currently idled cracker at Wilton Teesside

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi petrochemicals major SABIC is to restart its Wilton, UK steam cracker after an GDP850m investment, said the company.

With nameplate capacity to produce 865,000 /t of ethylene, alongside 415,000 t/y of propylene, the cracker first commissioned by erstwhile chemical conglomerate ICI in 1979 is Europe’s second largest. Originally run on liquid naphtha, it was later modified to handle both liquid and gas feedstock, including ethane, naphtha, propane and butane.

After being shut down for maintenance a year ago and not restarted, the facility’s future looked in doubt, and several other plants at the Teesside complex, where production activity has been subdued in recent years, had been expected to close.

Local officials, who reportedly negotiated with SABIC and Aramco to help secure the site’s future, said the new investment in the cracker will create hundreds of jobs and support “thousands more.” No update on the fate of the other plants has yet been forthcoming. SABIC also operates an LDPE plant at Wilton.

As MRC informed before, the British government said that Saudi petrochemical firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, would invest nearly 1 billion pounds (USD1.37 billion) at its Teesside facility in northeast England with the aim of decarbonisation.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

Trinseo raises November PC prices in Europe

Trinseo raises November PC prices in Europe

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

Effective November 1, 2021, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot PC prices for the products listed below increased as follows:

- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR300 per metric ton.

The present price increase is in response to unprecedented and escalating pressure from energy prices and apply to all current agreements and contracts for deliveries as of November 1, 2021 and are subject to further potential adjustments linked to fluctuating energy prices.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo last raised its prices for all PC grades in Europe on August 1, 2021 by EUR100 per metric ton.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) decreased by 14% and reached 62,000 tonnes in January-August 2021 against 72,100 tonnes in the same period of 2020.

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 USD3.8 billion in net sales in 2019, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,700 employees.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 01.11.2021

1. Sinopec net profits up 149% in Jan-Sep on recovering demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec posted a net profit increase of 148.5% in the first nine months amid strengthening crude and firming products demand, the company said. In accordance with IFRS, net profit attributable to shareholders of the Company was RMB 60.755 billion, increased 148.5%. Basic earnings per share were RMB 0.502. In accordance with CASs, the Company's operating income in the first three quarters was RMB 2.0034 trillion, up by 29.0% year on year. Net profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company reached RMB 59.892 billion.


MRC