(Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp said it would take at least two months to resume operations at two naphtha crackers in eastern Japan after a massive earthquake damaged some infrastructure and equipment at the fim's Kashima plant.
All operations at the Kashima facility have ceased, the company, a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company's naphtha crackers in Japan ethylene production capacity is 1 KTa.
(Plastemart) -- Honam Petrochemical Corporation is to establish a manufacturing facility for polypropylene resin materials in Auburn, its first US manufacturing operation. HPM Alabama Corporation will initially invest an estimated USD 9.25 million dollars and create 30 jobs by next year. HPM will also collaborate with Auburn University for R&D projects.
Honam is part of the Lotte Group. With annual revenue of approximately USD 50 bln and 35.000 employees, the Lotte Group is the 5th largest conglomerate in Korea.
(Food Production Daily) -- BASF said it has developed the first monomeric HALS (hindered amine light stabilizer) for food contact applications in plastics. The Germany-based company announced its Uvinul 4050 FF protects polymers from degradation thanks to its combination of HALS and UV absorbers.
⌠The product enables more effective stabilization of polypropylene (PP) applications with food contact, BASF spokesman Tobias Wolfing told FoodProductionDaily.com. ⌠To protect polymers from degradation, a combination of HALS and UV absorbers is required.
He added that while the main area of application was for consumer goods, it was also designed for food packaging across a raft of sectors - such as vegetable and fruit crates as well as bulk bags made of PP tapes for flour and cereals.
Gain in PS and styrene plastics imports was fixed by all grades. Supplies of EPS expectedly grew by twice compared to January and made 4.4 KT, at that Asian EPS dominated in supplies.
Also imports of GPPS almost doubled up to 3.2 KT. Serious gain in supplies fell at PS produced by BASF. Supplies of HIPS from external suppliers grew by 50% and made 2.1 KT.
In whole, in comparison to last February import supplies of PS and styrene plastics to the Russian market grew by 11%.
(ICIS) -- Toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) prices in China are expected to rise further in April on supply concerns and speculative trading in the wake of the 11 March earthquake in Japan, industry sources said on Thursday.
Spot TDI prices were assessed USD150/t higher on 23 March at USD 2.650-2.750/t CFR China Main Port (CMP)/Hong Kong, from the previous week, ICIS data showed.
Many players in China said they were worried about TDI supply because major supplier Mitsui Chemical has shuttered its TDI unit in Kashima, Japan, following the earthquake. Mitsui Chemical has kept its 120 KTa Kashima-based TDI plant shut since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit northeast Japan on 11 March and has not set a restart date yet.
In the meantime, the producer would use its 120 KTa Ohmuta-based TDI unit, which was unaffected by the earthquake, to cover both its domestic and export needs, the source said.
Chinese producers withdrew their spot offers after the earthquake hit Japan, while traders based in mainland China and Hong Kong took positions to stock up on cargoes as they expected TDI prices to rise in the wake of the natural disaster, local players said.
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