Lanxess opens new center for Asian plastics industry

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess has opened a new Asia-Pacific Application Development Center for its plastics in the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, according to GV.

It is run by the High Performance Materials (HPM) business unit. The Asia-Pacific Application Development Center will be the technology hub for customers in the Asia-Pacific region and India. It offers customers comprehensive engineering services in all stages of developing a new application; for injection moulded and blow moulded parts, as well as for composite sheet applications.

According to Lanxess, the center will enhance the company's capabilities to serve the expanding Green Mobility trend by providing testing services for plastics applications in the auto industry in application areas including: under-the-hood, chassis, engines and oil pans.

Lanxess is quick to respond to the increase in demand for products from the HPM business unit due to the trend toward lightweight construction in vehicle production by investing in the expansion of the capacities in the Asia Pacific region. In Wuxi, China, Lanxess completed the expansion at the production facility for high-tech plastics in 2011. It has raised production by around 20,000 tpa to a total of approximately 60,000 tpa. In 2012, the company opened a new compounding plant in Jhagadia, India, with an initial capacity of 20,000 tpa. These two facilities supply the entire Asia-Pacific region with Durethan and Pocan.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, LANXESS is strengthening its product portfolio for biocides to serve the megatrend urbanization. Thus, in early April, the German specialty chemicals group acquired Singapore-based PCTS Specialty Chemicals Pte. Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. Through the acquisition, LANXESS is now one of the leading suppliers of biocides for paints and coatings in the rapidly-growing Asia-Pacific region.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.8 billion in 2011 and currently around 16,900 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 48 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a strategic partnership with Rostekhnologii (Rostec), a Russian State Corporation, in the fields of biotechnology and functional materials, said DSM.

Under the terms of the MOU, DSM and Rostec will explore a potential cooperation in the field of conversion of cellulosic biomass from forestry and agriculture to fermentable sugars for the production of biofuels and/or biobased chemicals as well as the manufacturing of bio-based products such as bioethanol, biogas and organic acids from sugars derived from cellulosic biomass.

DSM and Rostec will also explore to cooperate in the area of enhancing the performance of Russia’s fast expanding optical fiber networks using DSM’s UV-curable resins optical fiber materials. In addition, DSM Dyneema and RT-Chemcomposite, part of Rostec, will investigate the establishment of a joint venture for the production and sales of Uni-Directional products based on Ultra High Molecular Weight PE-fibers in Russia using DSM’s proprietary technology for life protection applications.

For DSM, Russia is one of the High Growth Economies the company is focusing on in executing its strategy DSM in motion: driving focused growth. DSM’s main business areas in Russia are food and feed ingredients, pharmaceutical intermediate products, biotechnology, fiber materials, resins and engineering plastics. Through its business activities, DSM meets the needs and trends in the Russian Federation, including localization (import substitution), modernization in technologies and diversification (less oil dependence). In 2012, DSM celebrated 20 years of presence in Russia.

In 2010 DSM started a joint venture in Tatarstan to contribute to Russia’s goal of reaching a higher self-sufficiency in animal protein production and supply by securing better animal nutrition. In 2011 DSM entered into a long-term partnership in the area of engineering plastics with JSC KuibyshevAzot in Tolyatti (Samara Region) in order to supply locally produced products to the automotive and electrical & electronics industries.

As MRC wrote earlier, Dutch life science and materials sciences company Royal DSM has opened its newly constructed manufacturing plant for KhepriCoat anti-reflective coating in Geleen, in southern Dutch province of Limburg.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global EVA production capacity makes about 2.8 million tonnes, and mainly concentrates in North America, Western Europe and Asia; of which, the production capacity in Asia and North America is about 1.3 million tonnes and 900,000 tonnes respectively, according to "Research and Markets" report.

In the Asian markets, the main EVA output sources are Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Singapore in sequence; of which, Singapore is fully export oriented; and the input regions are China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia in sequence.
At present, China's main ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer production enterprises are Beijing Eastern Petrochemical Co., Ltd, Yanshan Petrochemical, Daqing Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical, BASF-YPC Company Limited and Beijing Huamei Polymer Co., Ltd.

The product variety is various, and the annual production capacity can reach 500,000 tonnes. Beijing Eastern Petrochemical is dedicated in EVA production, and other enterprises mainly produce EVA, and also produce LDPE in accordance with the market changes, therefore, the EVA production is not in saturation state.

Bby 2012, China's EVA output was about 310,000 tonnes. With the operation of new products, China's EVA production capacity will show a rapid growth trend since 2013; it is estimated that this capacity will reach 1.75 million tonnes in 2017, and this data does not include the newly increased projects in the next five years.

Foam material is the most important application field for China's EVA. In 2012, the EVA consumption volume in this field has reached 510,000 tonnes. In the future, plastic and EVA products will develop towards the directions of resource conservation, ecological products, environmental protection and clean production.

As MRC informed earlier, Wacker Chemie AG has recently officially ramped up its new production plant for vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Nanjing site (Jiangsu province, China). With the additional 60,000 tonnes from the second reactor line, the local EVA dispersion capacity is doubling to total 120,000 tonnes per year. The plant complex is thus one of the largest of its kind in China.

"Research and Markets" is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. It provides the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In March, the total output of caustic soda by Russian plants increased by 9% from February, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Because of the large number of calendar days in March compared to February, the final production volumes of domestic plants rose by 8,100 tonnes and made about 95,000 tonnes last month. Meanwhile, an average capacity utilization of Russian caustic soda producers remained unchanged.

The share of Kaustik (Volgograd) accounted for 20% of Russia's production of caustic soda. Last month, Sayanskkhimplast and Kaustik (Sterlitamak) produced 18% and 16% of the total production volumes of the material, respectively.
Overall, in Q1 2013, the output of caustic soda by Russian plants amounted to 276,400 tonnes. The production of caustic soda in Russia remains stable year-on-year. Thus, in the first quarter of 2012, Russia produced 276,300 tonnes of caustic soda.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanzhou Petrochemical has restarted operations at a low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, said Apic-online.

A source in China informed that the plant restarted on April 24, 2013. The producer shut the LDPE plant on 10 April because of a technical issue, the source added.

Local distributors said the price of LDPE may decline after the plant’s restart because of the increase in supply.

Located in Gansu province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

Lanzhou Petrochemical Company is a subsidiary of PetroChina, which has a wide range of manufacturing category in petrochemical industry, such as chemical raw materials, plastics, rubbers and fertilizers,etc.
MRC