Sumitomo commenced sales of the industrial park in Bangladesh

Sumitomo Corporation has commenced sales of the industrial park developed in a special economic zone in Narayanganj District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh together with Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, said the company.

Bangladesh borders India on the north, east and west, and Myanmar on the southeast, placing at a geographically important location connecting South and Southeast Asia. Bangladesh has abundant human resources, with 170 million people (ranking 8th in terms of population in the world) and the labor market is expected to increase at a pace of more than 2 million people every year for the next 20 years. Not only is Bangladesh expected to have a large domestic market, the country is expected to play an important role in the supply chains of products as an export hub for products to neighboring countries. Bangladesh government has set a goal of developing 100 special economic zones by 2030 with aim to diversify industrial areas, and global companies have made inroads into Bangladesh recently as a result.

The industrial park is located approximately 20 kilometers east of central Dhaka (about 1 hour by drive), and approximately 190 hectares are now being developed. The industrial park started its on-site infrastructure development construction works in November 2021 and is scheduled for completion to begin operational in December 2022. The industrial park features international standard infrastructure set up through a Japanese government ODA loan project and One Stop Service through BEZA for license and approval procedures for investors. Sumitomo Corporation is investing 76% stake in the industrial park entity, which amounts to approximately 13 billion Japanese Yen.

As it was written earlier, Sumitomo Corporation, Shikoku Electric Power Company and Sunseap Group, which is an integrated clean energy business company operating in the Asia-Pacific region, have jointly established Sun Trinity LLC to develop and operate in the solar power business in Japan.

Sumitomo Corporation has taken part in the business of development, sales and operation of industrial parks in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and India. As of February 2022, the 7 industrial parks have invited 563 tenant companies with 220,000 direct employment. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Japan. Sumitomo Corporation will utilize its know-how obtained through industrial park business operations in other countries to support tenant companies and contribute to the diversification of the industrial sector and encouraging job creation in Bangladesh.

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LG Chem announced that it will hold the ‘First Global Innovation Challenge (GIC)’ for startups all around the world, said the company.

GIC is a technology contest hosted by LG Chem for startups around the globe aimed at discovering outstanding innovative technologies.

With this GIC, LG Chem expanded its past open innovation involving industry-academic cooperation to global startups, and it plans to preemptive procure prospective future technologies and support its commercialization and quickly integrate it in actual businesses.

LG Chem will receive innovative technology ideas in a total of four sectors such as circular plastics, renewable hydrogen, carbon utilization, and sustainable battery materials from March 16 to May 1.

As per MRC, LG Chem Ltd., South Korean petrochemical major, has reported its 2021 net profit of 3.95 trillion won (USD3.3 billion), up 479.4% from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the year rose 178.4% on-year to 5.02 trillion won. LG Chem's annual revenue increased by 41.9% to 42.65 trillion won.

As MRC reported before, LG Chem plans to shut down its naphtha cracker in the Korean city of Yeosu for a scheduled turnaround this year. Thus, LG Chem is expected to put its Yeosu naphtha cracker under scheduled maintenance sometime in the second half of 2022. LG Chem's Yeosu naphtha cracker can produce 1.16 MMtpy of ethylene.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
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Thyssenkrupp suspended its 2021/22 forecast for free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions for due to the Ukraine crisis and said it was unclear if it would still be able to spin off its steel division, said the company.

Although the group’s sales from Russia and Ukraine are negligible at significantly less than one percent of total sales, the Executive Board estimates that the group’s business performance will be impacted by the far-reaching macroeconomic and geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Executive Board currently assumes that the global disruptions at various points in the supply chain will affect above all thyssenkrupp’s steel and automotive supply businesses. Opposing developments in materials trading, which is benefiting from the current increase in raw material and material prices, and the countermeasures initiated will not be able to fully compensate these impacts.

At the present time, the specific extent of the direct and indirect consequences of the war in Ukraine on the business development of thyssenkrupp is associated with high uncertainties. Against this background – in particular due to rising raw material prices – thyssenkrupp AG suspends its forecast for free cash flow before M&A for fiscal year 2021/2022.

Until the start of the war, business development of thyssenkrupp AG in the first quarter and in the current second quarter of the fiscal year was according to plan. In March, initial negative effects occurred primarily in the steel and automotive supply businesses. At the present time, the Executive Board continues to assume that the adjusted EBIT for the second quarter will still be above the previous quarter. Free cash flow before M&A, on the other hand, will be more strongly impacted by negative price effects than previously expected.

The economic consequences of the war in Ukraine for the group’s business development are also influencing the possible stand-alone solution for the steel business. thyssenkrupp AG remains convinced that the independent positioning of the steel business offers very good prospects for the future. Nevertheless, a statement on the feasibility is at present not possible due to the current economic conditions.

As per MRC, Thyssenkrupp Uhde’s subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer signed a contract to build three new polymer plants for SASA Polyester Sanayi A.S in Adana, Turkey. One plant is planned to produce 1,050 metric tpd (380,000 tpy) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for low viscosity application combined with a Co-PET plant with a capacity of 100 metric tpd (36,000 tpy). The third plant will use Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s proprietary patented MTR (Melt-to-Resin) technology to produce 330,000 tpy of resin for the production of PET bottles.

Thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers offers world-leading technologies for high-efficiency electrolysis plants. The company, a Joint Venture with Industrie De Nora, has extensive in-depth knowledge in the engineering, procurement, and construction of electrochemical plants and a strong track record of more than 600 projects with a total rating of over 10 gigawatts already successfully installed. With its water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen, the company offers an innovative solution on an industrial scale for green value chains and an industry fueled by clean energy – a major step towards a climate-neutrality.
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The international rating agency S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the long-term credit rating of the Russian Federation in national and foreign currency from "CCC-" to "CC", said Interfax citing press release from the agency.

Short-term ratings remain at 'C'.

The ratings remain under review with a negative outlook, S&P notes.

The deterioration of the long-term ratings is due to expectations that Russia will face technical difficulties in servicing Eurobonds in the coming weeks.

As per MRC, the international rating agency S&P downgraded the credit ratings of 52 Russian companies, including the world's largest energy company, Gazprom, and Russia's leading oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. Thus, S&P Global Ratings downgraded the ratings of these companies to CCC-.
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BASF will almost double the production capacity for its synthetic ester base stocks at its site in Jinshan, China, said the company.

The investment comes in response to the rising demand for high-performance lubricants in Asia Pacific, and further strengthens BASF’s position as a reliable supplier that strongly supports customers’ growth in the region.

Synthetic ester base stocks are essential components in the formulation of high-performance lubricants, providing several sustainability benefits. Fields of application include environmentally friendly refrigeration and air-conditioning, automotive as well as industrial lubricants.

"The new production capacity for synthetic ester base stocks will bring additional security of supply for our customers particularly in the Asia Pacific region. Building on our backward integration into key raw materials we will be leveraging the full strength of BASF as a leading and reliable component provider to the lubricant industry,” explains Matthias Lang, Vice President, Business Management Fuel and Lubricant Solutions Asia Pacific and Performance Chemicals Greater China. “We are excited to serve our customers even better and grow together with them moving forward."

The capacity expansion is expected to reach full completion by 2H22.

As MRC wrote before, Air Liquide, BASF and Shell are joining Calpine, Chevron, Dow, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero to collectively evaluate and advance emissions reduction efforts in and around the Houston industrial area. Three additional companies have announced their support for exploring the implementation of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in and around the Houston industrial area. The 14 companies are evaluating how to use safe, proven CCS technology at Houston-area facilities that provide energy and products for modern life, including advanced manufacturing for plastics, packaging, motor fuels and power generation.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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.

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