Clariant Masterbatches presents ColorForward Automotive 2016

МOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, is introducing automotive engineers to ColorForward, the color forecasting guide for the plastics industry during the Plastics in Automotive Engineering Congress sponsored by VDI, the society of German engineers, said the producer on its site.

Clariant's ColorWorks offers traditionally two versions of ColorForward: one aimed at designers of solid plastic components and the other, ColorForward Interiors, which is addressed to users of fibers and textiles. The goal of both versions is to help designers and marketing professionals make more informed color choices.

Starting from this solid root, this year a new member joins the ColorForward family: ColorForward Automotive, specifically addressed to the needs of the automotive design.

"Clariant Masterbatches is, since many years, one of the major global suppliers of color and additive solutions to the Automotive industry, with links to all the players in the value chain," explains Laura Carrillo, Head of Market Segment Automotive Europe.

ColorForward springs from the minds and experience of an international team of color, design, marketing and polymer experts, representing multiple creative industries from all over the world. Each edition presents four global societal trends that can be expected to influence consumer behavior. Each trend is then represented by five colors that capture the essence of that trend. In the original ColorForward, the colors are presented in molded plaques made of various plastics, rigid and flexible, opaque and translucent. ColorForward Interiors presents the colors as pompons made of polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA) fibers, but also "wrap cards" with polyester fiber samples – forms that are very familiar to developers and users of fabrics, carpeting and upholstery.

As MRC informed before, Clariant's Masterbatches, a devision of the world leader in specialty chemicals Clariant, has presented two innovative products - REMAFIN-EP white masterbatches and Hydrocerol nucleating agents, which cater to the needs of India’s pharmaceutical and infrastructure industries.

Clariant's Masterbatches business unit is a recognized global leader in color and additive concentrates and performance solutions for plastics.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Consumer, healthcare, transportation and building products manufacturers now have a high-performance material offering both excellent properties and sustainability in one cost-effective, vinyl-based material package. PolyOne’s Geon BIO Flexible Solutions, formulated with a bio-derived plasticizer also complies with phthalate-restrictive regulations such as California’s Prop 65 and the Consumer Product Safety Initiative Act of 2008 (CPSIA), reported the producer on its site.

Concerns about phthalates are well documented and with the entire category under scrutiny, current industry practice has been to label products containing terephthalates, thought by many to be safe, as "non-phthalate" or "phthalate free" in order to avoid unnecessary deselection.

"Geon BIO materials are formulated with PolyOne’s plant-based reFlex 300 plasticizer," said James Stephenson, director, Global Marketing, Geon Performance Materials. "This creates a truly non-phthalate flexible vinyl that performs at levels equal to or better than materials containing petroleum-based plasticizers. At last, customers can avoid compromising performance to meet regulatory and sustainability objectives."

Consistent with the PolyOne No Surprises Pledge, reFlex 300 materials have been tested and certified by the United States Department of Agriculture’s BioPreferred Program to be 99% bio-based.

Compared to other flexible vinyls, Geon BIO materials feature a wider processing window and enhanced thermal stability, which may reduce production costs by improving manufacturing efficiency. In addition, specific healthcare formulations are pre-certified to meet biocompatibility requirements for United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Class VI protocols.

As MRC wrote previously, last year, PolyOne Corporation presented its specialty portfolio for automotive interiors. These advanced technologies, including soft-touch materials as well as colorants and special effects, enable customers to design new features that boost consumer appeal and reduce manufacturing complexity.

PolyOne Corporation, with 2014 revenues of USD3.8 billion, is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PAO SIBUR Holding, an integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company, and a leader in the Russian petrochemical industry, today published its operational and financial results for the full year 2014 in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as per company's statement.

Revenue increased by 34% year-on-year. Revenue from sales of energy products increased by over 50% year-on-year. Revenue from sales of basic polymers increased by 68.3% year-on-year, largely attributable to operations at the Tobolsk-Polymer plant. Revenue from sales of synthetic rubbers decreased by 14.1% year-on-year. EBITDA increased by 30% year-on-year to more than RR 100 billion. Net profit decreased by 44.8% year-on-year due to FX fluctuations.

In 2014 SIBUR increased sales volumes of the majority of its energy products. Natural gas sales volumes increased by 35.2% year-on-year to 16 billion cubic metres. Sales of NGLs, including liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), naphtha and raw NGL, rose by 34.7% year-on-year to 6.5 million tonnes. Sales volumes of petrochemical products totaled 2.2 million tonnes, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year, including sales volumes of 397.7 thousand tonnes of polypropylene, a 1.9 times increaseyear-on-year.

In 2014, capital expenditures decreased by 3.3% to RR 67.7 billion as it was completed several large-scale projects in 2013 and early 2014, while the company started financing ZapSibNeftekhim (ZapSib-2) at the end of 2014.

As MRC informed before, SIBUR launched construction of ZapSibNeftekhim,a facility for deep hydrocarbon to polyolefin processing, on 17 February 2015.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. SIBUR operates 26 production sites in various regions of Russia. The Group employs 26,000 people. The Company sells its products to over 1,400 major customers engaged in the energy, automotive, construction, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), chemical and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's polypropylene (PP) imports slightly increased in February. However, PP imports into the country over the first two months decreased by 25%, compared with the same time a year earlier, as per MRC DataScope.

In February, Russian companies increased PP purchases in foreign markets, despite the lower price level of in the domestic market.
February PP imports to Russia totalled about 11,700 tonnes, compared with 8,700 tonnes a month earlier. Russia's PP imports in the first two months in 2015 totalled 20,400 tonnes, compared with 27,100 tonnes year on year. The largest decline in imports occurred for homopolymer PP, which resulted from a significant increase in the domestic production.

PP imports in Russia over the reported period looked as follows. February imports of homopolymer PP increased to 4,300 tonnes, compared with 2,800 tonnes in January. The main volume of external supplies of homopolymer PP occurred for Turkmen raffia; in February, Russian companies bought at auction more than 15,000 tonnes of PP.

Russia's imports of homopolymer PP were 7,100 tonnes in the first two months of the year, compared with 11,900 year on year. February imports of PP block copolymer reached 2,500 tonnes, compared with 2,000 tonnes a month earlier on an increase in purchases of PP from by the local pipe producers.
Russia's imports of PP block copolymers decreased to 4,500 tonnes over the first two months of the year, down 29% year on year. February imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 2,600 tonnes, compared with 2,100 tonnes in January. The increase in external supply of PP random copolymers occurred for local producers of pressure pipes (in February - March, Russian producers reduced production of PP random copolymer). Imports of PP random copolymer) in Russia totalled 4,600 tonnes in January - February 2015, up 6% year on year.

Imports of other polymers of propylene in the reporting period into the country were 4,100 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess will see personnel changes on both the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, reported the company on its site.

In its meeting, the Supervisory Board resolved to propose Lawrence A. Rosen, member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Post AG, and Dr. Matthias Wolfgruber, Chairman of the Management Board of Altana AG, to the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on May 13, 2015, for election as members of the Supervisory Board.

Supervisory Board members Rainer Laufs and Robert J. Koehler will both be leaving the body upon expiration of their current terms of office.

Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Rolf Stomberg: "Mr. Laufs and Mr. Koehler are due the thanks of the entire company. They have significantly contributed to Lanxess having developed well within a decade. I am pleased that we have been able to attract two further proven experts as their successors. The work of the LANXESS Supervisory Board will be enhanced especially by Dr. Wolfgruber’s experience as the CEO of a leading global specialty chemicals company and Mr. Rosen’s international background and profound knowledge of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries."

The Supervisory Board has also resolved to appoint Michael Pontzen as a member of the Board of Management effective April 1, 2015. He will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the specialty chemicals company. Pontzen currently heads Lanxess’ Corporate Controlling Group Function.

He will succeed Dr. Bernhard Duttmann, who is leaving the company effective March 31, 2015, to take on new career challenges. Duttmann has been Chief Financial Officer at Lanxess since 2011.

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2013, Lanxess celebrated the opening of its first production facility in Russia. In the new plant at the Lipetsk site, Lanxess subsidiary Rhein Chemie manufactures polymer-bound rubber additives for the markets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), primarily for the automotive and tire industries. A production facility for the bladders used in tire production is to be added in 2016. The overall investment volume in euros amounts to a seven-digit figure.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC