Petrochina started up its new UNIPOL polypropylene process unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese petrochemical producer - Taiyo Vinyl Corp., a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, has shut a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant was shut on March 13, 2014. The plant is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Yokkaichi, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 310,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, Taiyo Vinyl Corp. is in plans to shut its another PVC plant, located in Osaka (Japan) with the capacity of 170,000 mt/year, for maintenance turnaround in July 2014 for a period of about one month.

Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The plant in Chiba is one of the company's key assests, which supplies 50% of its products to the domestic market. The company also produces PVC at the plants in Yokkaichi and Osaka with the annual capacity of 310,000 and 150,000 tonnes, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie AG and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) have resolved the issue of polysilicon exports to China, reported Wacker on its site.

An agreement to this end was signed in Beijing. Wacker, for its part, undertakes not to sell polysilicon produced at its European plants below a specific minimum price in China. MOFCOM, in turn, will refrain from applying anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on this material. The agreement takes effect on May 1, 2014, and lasts until the end of April 2016.

Appropriate schemes ensure that the Munich-based chemical group can continue to offer its polysilicon at standard market conditions in China in the future. Wacker and MOFCOM have decided not to disclose the contents and details of the agreement.

"I am pleased that existing differences concerning the prices for our polysilicon exports to China have been successfully resolved through dialogue," said Wacker CEO Rudolf Staudigl in an initial statement. "The agreed solution is in the best interests of both Wacker and China’s solar industry. We can continue supplying our high-quality material at competitive prices to our Chinese customers, who need it to produce highly efficient solar modules. This agreement is an excellent example of how conflicting opinions in trade issues can be amicably solved through constructive discussions and negotiations based on trust."

As MRC reported earlier, Wacker Polymers, a division of Wacker Chemie AG, has recently announced an increase in its prices for VINNAPAS vinyl acetate-ethylene (EVA) and VINNOL ethylene-vinyl chloride-based (EVCL) copolymer dispersions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Effective April 1, 2014, Wacker will implement a price increase of up to EUR70 per ton, or as customer contracts allow. This measure has been necessitated by the continued increase in raw-material cost.

Polysilicon, is a material consisting of small silicon crystals. It differs from single-crystal silicon, used for electronics and solar cells, and from amorphous silicon, used for thin film devices and solar cells. Polycrystalline silicon is used in the semiconductor industry, starting from poly rods that are two to three meters in length.

Wacker Polymers is a leading producer of state-of-the-art binders and polymeric additives based on polyvinyl acetate and vinyl acetate copolymers. These take the form of dispersible polymer powders, dispersions, solid resins, and solutions. They are used in construction chemicals, paints, surface coatings, adhesives and nonwovens, and in fiber composites and polymeric materials based on renewable resources. Wacker Polymers has production sites in Germany, China, South Korea and the USA, as well as a global sales network and technology centers in all major regions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical Co said it aimed to raise up to USD6 billion from asset sales, USD1.5 billion to USD2.0 billion more than its earlier target, to focus on electronics, agriculture and packaging, said Reuters.

Dow Chemical is under pressure from hedge fund titan Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC to spin off its lucrative but slow-growing petrochemical unit and focus on specialty materials, but the company is reluctant to split the two businesses.

The company has repeatedly defended its strategy of using its commoditized raw materials businesses to keep costs down at its high-growth specialty chemicals businesses.

Dow Chemical, which said in October that it would sell its epoxy business and some chlorine and derivatives assets, said on Wednesday it also planned to sell some non-core operations.

The company did not specify which assets, but said they would likely be from its functional materials and performance materials businesses - two of its slowest-growing operations.

Dow Chemical said it was also reviewing joint ventures for potential divestiture.

The company, which is seeking to lower its exposure to volatile commodity prices, aims to complete the sale of assets by the end of 2015.

"You can expect that these businesses are small, have good EBITDA but where, frankly, we cannot grow," Liveris said from Saudi Arabia.

Dow Chemical, like rival DuPont, is looking to increase sales of seeds and pesticides, and has said its genetically altered "Enlist" corn and soybean would be key to driving profits in its agricultural sciences business.

The company said it expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the unit to double to USD2 billion in five to seven years.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC