Czech producer Unipetrol is set to record a strong petrochemical performance

(ICIS) -- Czech producer Unipetrol is set to record a strong petrochemical performance for the first quarter after margins returned to growth, investment bank Wood & Company said on Tuesday. After suffering a dip last December on sharply rising feedstock costs, Unipetrol's integrated petrochemical margin rose in each of the following three months, delivering an average of EUR 626/t (USD 894/t) for the first quarter of 2011, according to the bank. This was up 17% on both the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2010, Prague-based Wood & Company added.

For the first quarter of 2011, Unipetrol's model monomer margin rose to EUR 345/t from EUR 255/t in the fourth quarter of 2010 and EUR 278/t in the first quarter of 2010, the bank said.

The company's model polymer margin for the first quarter of this year edged up to EUR 281/t from EUR 278/t in the previous quarter and EUR 257/t in the first quarter of 2010.

MRC

(LANXESS) -- German specialty chemicals group Lanxess is expanding its global presence and has founded a dedicated company for the Middle East. The office of Lanxess Middle East GmbH is located in Dubai. ⌠The markets of the Middle East offer Lanxess interesting prospects, both in terms of raw material supply and because of the increasing demand there for quality products. Through an increased presence we would like to more effectively evaluate and exploit this strategic potential, said Werner Breuers, a member of the Lanxess AG Board of Management, adding: ⌠Dubai is an ideal location in this regard.

Lanxess currently supplies customers in the Middle East primarily with specialty chemicals, color pigments for the construction industry and high-tech plastics and rubbers.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 bln in 2010 and currently around 14.850 employees in 24 countries. The company is represented at 45 production sites worldwide. The core business is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's Maruzen Petrochemical Co Ltd said on Monday it began restarting its 480 KTa naphtha cracker in Chiba, east of Tokyo, earlier in the day, nearly a month after it was shut down following the magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11. The restart means only two crackers remain shut due to the quake. They are operated by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp at its Kashima plant, northeast of Tokyo, and have a total capacity of 828 KTa.

Mitsubishi Chemical, a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings , said in late March that the restart of the crackers would take at least two months.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, an oil refining unit of JX Holdings, was also forced to shut a 404 KTa cracker in Kawasaki after the quake, but it resumed operations on March 29.

Japan has a combined ethylene making capacity of 7.3 million tonnes a year, and nearly 17 percent of that capacity is currently off line due to the closure of the Kashima plants and a maintenance shutdown of Idemitsu Kosan Co's 374 KTa cracker at Chiba.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In QI of 2011 the estimate of imports of polystyrene (PS) and styrene plastics to Russia made 35 KT (+13% to Q I of 2010), according to MRC analysts.

It was expected that a launch of EPS production at Sibur-Chimprom site will result in reduced imports of EPS. But imports substitution isn't observed. EPS imports remained at the level of 2010 - 12 KT. Growth of overall imports of PS and styrene plastics against the same period in 2010 occurred at the expense of double growth of GPPS imports (8 KT).

We observe the growth of not only PS and styrene plastics imports but of consumption in general. Over January-February 2011 domestic producers manufactured 122 KT (+7%). PG Prof (Styrovit) production of GPPS is now working almost at 100% capacities utilization. Average utilization of Nizhnekamskneftehim capacities made 93%.

It is no wonder that the main growth of feedstock imports (3 KT) fell at the XPS-plates sector. Now growing demand for GPPS in the XPS-plates sector has provided almost complete loading of domestic capacities. MRC analysts forecast a further growth of the sector whose driver may become the Program of energy saving in Russia.

Detailed analysis of PS market, long-term and short-term forecast of its development is available in MRC Annual report PS and Styrene Plastics in Russia 2011.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Belgium-based Solvay's proposed acquisition of France's Rhodia for EUR 3.4bn (USD 4.9bn) sets the stage for more chemical mergers and acquisitions (M&A), analysts said on Monday. Solvay's planned acquisition of Rhodia comes after US investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway announced its USD 9bn (excluding the assumption of about USD 700m in debt) acquisition of US-based lubricants and specialty chemicals firm Lubrizol on 14 March.

As Jefferies & Co. analyst Laurence Alexander noted in a research note, 32% of Rhodia's sales are from products that address sustainable development, including lightweight plastics for the automotive sector, and silica for environmentally-friendly tyres. Including the assumption of EUR 3.2bn in Rhodia debt, the deal is valued at EUR 6.6bn.

Rhodia generates around 20% of its sales from the automotive end market and around 40% of its sales from emerging markets.

⌠The main product within Rhodia's portfolio is engineering plastics based on polyamide or Nylon 6,6 - from which the company generates around 40% of its revenues, the analyst said.

MRC