BASF breaks ground on new Innovation Campus in Mumbai, India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the German chemicals giant, broke ground on a new Innovation Campus in Navi Mumbai, India, said the company in its press release.

The company will invest approximately EUR50 million via BASF Chemicals India Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF SE. The facility will accommodate around 300 scientists investigating areas such as crop protection, process development and polymer research.

In 2020, BASF aims to generate EUR30 billion of sales worldwide with products that have been introduced in the market since 2011. The basis for these innovations is effective and efficient research and development. To achieve this ambitious goal, BASF is further developing the research organization and bundling its competencies in three global platforms, with the headquarters of Advanced Materials & Systems Research based in the Asia Pacific region. The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will be a key hub of BASF’s global research and development (R&D) network, and, next to Shanghai, BASF’s second major R&D location in Asia Pacific.

The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will host global research activities and regional and local development activities. Development activities will serve BASF’s Performance Chemicals, Care Chemicals, and Pigments & Dispersions businesses. By combining development activities with global research, the campus will foster exchange of know-how and ideas about latest technologies and methods, ensure access to state-of-the-art equipment, and create synergies.

The BASF Innovation Campus (Mumbai) will begin operation in 2017 and will include synthesis, application, process, and analytical laboratories. Along with scientific facilities, the 20,000 square meter site includes technical facilities, logistics areas, a full-scale auditorium and canteen, and employee amenities areas.

As MRC wrote before, BASF entered into a definitive agreement to fully acquire the business and assets in Taiwan and Mainland China of Taiwan Sheen Soon (TWSS), a leading manufacturer for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) adhesives base material.

BASF in India has 2,254 employees at eight production sites and sales offices as well as two R&D centers. In 2013, BASF registered sales of EUR1.02 billion to customers in India.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wood plastic composite are manufactured with major five process across the globe which includes extrusion, injection, co-extrusion, foaming and rotomolding, said Plastemart.

Leading companies in the wood plastic composite are continuously seeking new technologies for manufacturing wood plastic composite with high efficiency. The wood plastic composite market is projected to reach USD4,601.7 mln by 2019, as per Research and Markets. By type, polyethylene are estimated to be the largest in 2014, and are projected to grow with the increasing demand for decking in the building and construction segment. Benefits such as high resistant to rot, decay, and marine borer attack are driving the market demand.

The wood plastic composite market is segmented on the basis of application that includes building and construction products, automotive components, industrial & consumer goods, and others. The demand for wood plastic composite for building and construction products accounted for the largest share in 2014. North America is the largest consumer of wood plastic composite in 2014, followed by the Asian region.

As MRC wrote before, attributes of light weight and performance are pushing the use of composites in public transportation. Due to safety issues and rising gasoline prices, public transportation including buses, trains and trams are being used extensively. This is having a positive ripple effect on the uptake of composites. While the resins used in public transportation have different properties, strength and resistance to heat and chemicals are the major factors underpinning their appeal.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jurong Aromatics Corp is in plans to shut its aromatics plant in December 2014, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the plant is planned to be shut this week. The plant is expected to remain shut for around 30-45 days.

Located in Jurong Island, Singapore, the plant has a PX production capacity of 800,000 mt/year, benzene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year and OX production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC) restarted its No. 3 aromatics plant in Taiwan in end-October 2014. It was shut on September 15, 2014 for maintenance turnaround. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the plant has a benzene capacity of 520,000 mt/year, toluene capacity of 210,000 mt/year and isomer xylene (IX) capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

Besides, South Korean petrochemical company LG Chemical took off-stream an aromatics plant in South Korea for maintenance turnaround on October 15, 2014. It remained off-stream till end-November 2014. Located at Yeosu in South Korea, the plant has a benzene capacity of 240,000 mt/year, toluene capacity of 100,000 mt/year and solvent-grade MX capacity of 55,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR and Sberbank CIB have signed a five-year non-revolving credit facility agreement for RUB 42 bn. The funds are to be used for general corporate purposes, as per producer's press release.

Pavel Malyi, CFO of SIBUR, said: "SIBUR and Sberbank CIB’s facility agreement is yet another affirmation of SIBUR's creditworthiness. This long-term financing was raised as part of our continued efforts to improve our loan portfolio and ensure reliable access to long-term liquidity, which will increase the Company’s financial sustainability."

Kirill Polishkin, Acting Head of Sberbank CIB’s Client Management Department said: "The deal is a logical step forward given our long-standing and productive partnership with SIBUR. We value our relationship with one of the country's largest petrochemical companies and consistently support our client's projects by providing them with the full range of financial solutions and services".

As MRC wrote before, SIBUR in mid September decided to proceed with the previously announced mega ZapSibNeftekhim project at Tobolsk, Russia. ZapSibNeftekhim's project is designed to operate a steam cracker (by Linde AG, Germany) with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa of ethylene, around 500 ktpa of propylene and 100 ktpa of butane-butylene fraction (BBF), along with units with a total capacity to produce 1.5 mtpa of various grades of polyethylene (by INEOS, UK) and a polypropylene unit of 500 ktpa (by LyondellBasell, Netherlands).

SIBUR is a unique vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business by associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. SIBUR operates 26 production sites located throughout Russia and employs over 26,000 staff. SIBUR has over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -Russia's consumption of bottle polycarbonate (PC) were 2,500 tonnes in January-November 2014, down 19% in the same period last year, according to MRC DataScope report.

As this segment of the PC market is totally dependent on imports, that is why domestic bottle PC prices have been growing on line of the rouble devaluation. At the same time, because of the strengthening of the dollar, prices for European bottle PC have been lower than Asian material. The most popular European producers in Russia are Sabic Innovative Plastics (11% from the total imports) and Styron (11%). However, most of the imported volume occurred for Asian producers: Samyang Corporation (29%), LG Chem (25%), Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corp (21%).

Russian traders reported a significant decline in consumer interest in bottle PC because of the sharp rising prices, which cut their margins.
Some of they said that the reduction of production bottles number, along with an increase in their volume ( from 10 liters to 20 liters or more).
Also, one of the ways to reduce costs is to add a recycled feedstock material in the production, or switching to a recycled PC, which worsens the quality of products.
Buyers of bottles are not willing to accept price rise. In this case, in order to reduce costs, they often use the bottle more than once, delaying or reducing the purchase of new ones. For this reason, the consumption of bottle PC is expected to drop next year further. Due to the deterioration of the macroeconomic situation in the country traders are going to make discounts to buyers, taking the currency risk or the sharing it with clients.

However, these measures still can not have a significant impact on demand. Foreign producers of bottled PC avoid to increase prices for Russia significantly to not lose customers.
MRC