Reifenhauser Group buys screw and barrel maker Westland Corp.

(canplastics) -- Germany-based plastics processing equipment maker the Reifenhauser Group has purchased injection molding and extrusion screw and barrel manufacturer Westland Corporation.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Wichita, Kan.-based Westland will become part of the Reifenhauser Group under the name Reiloy Westland Corporation, as an independent unit of Reifenhauser’s Reiloy Metall.

Westland’s president Dave Larson will become the new president of Reiloy Westland, Reifenhauser said in a news release. “North America is an important strategic market for the Reifenhauser Group and its significance will continue to increase in the future,” said Bernd Reifenhauser, the company’s CEO. "By acquiring our own site for screws and barrels on location and investing in the capacities of the site, we are reacting to this development in the market."

Comprised of six business units, the family-owned Reifenhauser Group employs about 1,200 people at its three German sites; the company reported total revenues of EUR450 million in 2011/2012.

On July 1, 2012 the two business units of Reifenhauser Extrusion GmbH & Co. KG have been split up in two companies in order to meet the requirements of the business areas that are different in many respects. The ormer business area Extrusion Center has been spun off into the new company Reifenhauser Extrusion Technology GmbH & Co. KG, which focuses on the development and manufacture of extruders and WPC lines. The business area Cast Film remained within the Reifenhauser Extrusion GmbH & Co. KG which, however, has been renamed in Reifenhauser Cast Sheet Coating GmbH & Co. KG.
MRC

(plastemart) -- West Bengal government has decided to make an urgent pitch to the State Bank of India to save Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.

Bengal chief secretary Sanjay Mitra will soon meet SBI chairman to plead to the country’s largest bank to release a loan as soon as possible, reported telegraphindia. The company has been losing heavily because of low capacity utilisation, of which MRC reported previously. Unable to buy raw material naphtha to produce polymer, the plant is operating at barely at 50% cent of the installed capacity.

"The main topic of discussion today was how to restore the financial health of the company. Our main aim is to keep the plant operative. Purnendu Chatterjee has also said he will make a joint effort with us to bring in funds," Chatterjee said.

HPL had earlier pleaded with the SBI-led bank consortium, which provides short- term working capital, to release funds to shore up capacity utilisation. However, banks had turned down the proposal, citing inability of the promoters to resolve differences and infuse equity in the firm. A leading bank had declined a meeting with HPL and government officials a few weeks back unless the promoters - WBIDC and private partner The Chatterjee Group — came up with a revival plan, including equity infusion. Chatterjee had disclosed the government’s plan to sell its shares through auction and bring in a partner a year ago. However, the move was officially formalised only a month back. The WBIDC today informed the HPL board that it had decided to sell its shares through an auction process.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In November, imports of PVC to the Russian market decreased by 28% to around 35,200 tonnes. The eleven months’ imports of suspension to Russia amounted to about 387,000 tonnes, according MRC DataSkope.

Expectedly, last month Russia’s PVC imports decreased by 28%, October and reached 35,200 tonnes on seasonal decline in demand. External supplies declined in all grades.
The deliveries of North American PVC in November made 18,000 tonnes, from 25,000 tonnes in October. The imports of resin from the United States is expected to decline further in January-February 2013 on seasonal decline and decrease in procurement of resin in December by some traders.

Last month the supplies of acetylene PVC from China fell to 10,000 tonnes, from record-high 14,700 tonnes in October. Imports of PVC from China are also expected to be reduced in the coming months.

Problems with the procurement no acetylene PVC, export prices for quite a long time remain unchanged, and are unlikely to be modified in the near future. All these factors amid low seasonal demand allow Russian companies to postpone purchases of resin in China.

In January-November 2012, the total imports of PVC to Russia amounted to 387,000 tonnes, down 11% year on year. Decline in imports of resin in the current year resulted from the increase in domestic production, as well as serious stock inventories of PVC in the beginning of the year at the producers and trading companies.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - According to Freedonia Group's report, demand for recycled plastics in the U.S. will grow by 6.5%in the next four years, while the overall level of processing of polymers will still remain low - less than 7%, reports unipack.

Demand for the recycled plastic in 2016 will reach 3.5 billion pounds. As reported by Freedonia Group, the main drivers of the growth are the development of technologies in recycling, which will allow to increase the amount of plastic that can be processed into high-quality products; improving of the waste collection infrastructure, the pursuit of sustainability among the producers of packaging and consumer goods, as well as continued support from the federal and local governments.

It is expected that by 2016 packaging wil havel remained the main market for recycled plastics, and the basic material for recycling will be bottles. They account for more than half of all plastic collected in 2016.

Freedonia Group states in its report that only half of all plastic collected for recycling, is used for the production of new goods. In 2011, PET and HDPE were the main recycled materials, out of which new products (70% of all the polymers) were produced.

Processing of plastic wastes is growing in Russia and Ukraine. Thus, the company Polymer-vector (Kemerovo), engaged in the processing of chemically contaminated plastic wastes, is going to double its processing capacities in 2013 - up to 1.2 tonnes of plastic wastes and to increase the production of special granules up to 80 tonnes per month to be used for the production of plastic containers, paving and curbs, polypropylene (PP) tape (analogue of metal packing tape), as MRC reported previously. Also, a new plant for the advanced processing of plastic wastes into wood-polymer products was launched in Divnogorsk.

In Ukranie, in late November, GP "Ukrekoresursy" started up a new line for recycling polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) wastes into granules in Poltava, Ukraine. Also,in July 2012, the company launched a production line for processing plastic bottles into PET flakes, class "A", in the Khmelnitsky region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sluggish demand and ample supply of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the Russian market has resulted in a major price cut. From October to mid-December, LDPE went down in value by Rb8,000-10,000/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Traditionally, in October, demand for LDPE starts going down in the Russian market. This year makes no exception. However, while in prior years Russian producers shipped excess volumes of LDPE to foreign markets, this year demand in the foreign markets is also weak and exporting the material is not very profitable for producers. As a result, ample supply of polyethylene amid low demand makes Russian makers reduce prices.

In early October, deals for LDPE 158 were concluded on average in the range of Rb63,000-65,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the spot market. By mid-December, on the back of weak demand LDPE prices fell to the level of Rb53,500-55,500/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT.

This week, there were technical issues with the production of LDPE 158 at Kazanorgsintez. By Wednesday, PE shipments from the plant had not been resumed. Belarusian maker, Polymir, also suspended its production of LDPE 158. Yet, all these factors do not put pressure on the Russian market.
MRC