US manufacturer Gore plans further investment

(yarnsandfibers) -- Despite less foreign direct investment going into China, the US-based W. L. Gore and Associates Inc, a leading manufacturer of advanced technology products for the electronics, fabrics, industrial and medical markets, plans to increase its presence in China by investing more in its Shenzhen plant this year.

Gore, which entered China about 10 years ago, plans to invest about USD20 million in a second fabric plant in Shenzhen this year.

The new project comes after Gore has already spent more than USD70 million in Shenzhen in the past decade. It is expected to help the company increase its annual sales by 50 percent.

"Gore Shenzhen is the hub for our Asia-Pacific businesses, and we continue to invest in building what we refer to as a 'cluster' in Shenzhen, which has proved to be a successful model to co-locate business units, functions and other support infrastructure in a common location," said Terri Kelly, Gore president and CEO.

By taking advantage of propriety technologies that incorporate the versatile polymer polytetrafluoroethylene, Gore has devised numerous products that can be used in electronic signal transmissions, fabric laminates, medical implants, as well as in membranes, filtration, sealants and fiber technologies for industries.

MRC

(yarnsandfibers) -- Chennai, known for its Madras Checks the world over, is fast losing its status as a leading woven apparel exporter to its Bangladeshi counterparts. The city, which had about 500 woven units exporting men’s wear about three years ago, has only about 100 such operational units left now.

“With largely subsidised fabrics from Bangladesh flooding the market, south Indian woven fabrics industry is at great peril,” lamented Mr Ranjit P. Shah, president of apparel and handloom exporters association. Around 33 leading exporting units have shut shop in the last few years leading to a loss of 45,000-plus jobs, he added.

“In last two years, Chennai industry has suffered unfair level-playing fields, specially from Bangladesh because of cost escalation in the production that has made our CMT (cut, make and trim) costs uncompetitive,” said Mr Prakash C. Sancheti, vice-president of the association.

India signed a pact in September last to permit duty-free access for 48 apparel products including knitwear from Bangladesh under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement. This zero-duty access to the USD3-billion Indian apparel market will enable the tiny nation to capture a sizeable Indian market owing to its low labour cost and other inherent advantages, lament exporters.

MRC

Moscow (MRC) -- Spot prices of PX in Asia keep falling on the back of the oil futures decline and weak demand from the local producers of PTA. In the spot market the price of the feedstock has dropped to its bottom for the last 17 months, according to MRC analysts.

Korean PX producers settled down their quotations on average by USD100/tonne. Export shipments were at USD1,295 - 1,310/tonne FOB Korea. Import prices at the border and in the ports of Taiwan and China also slumped by USD90-100/tonne and by the end of the week they had reached USD1,315-1,335 CFR China/Taiwan.

The market players said the downtrend of PX continues put pressure on PTA quotations and, subsequently, on the prices of PET granulates in Asia.

Despite ongoing drop in prices traders reported an increase of buying activity in the market last week. At the same time players' sentiments about prices are pessimistic.

The uncertainty of economic situation in Europe and current dynamics of oil prices can result in the further cuts of feedstock price by the major Asian exporters.
mrplast.com

Moscow (MRC) -- Imports of PVC-S to Russia continues to decrease over two months in a row. The total imports over the five months made about 148 thousand tonnes which down 26% year on year, as per MRC analysts.

Low demand for PVC from the converters and the growing supplies from Russian producers resulted in the reduction of imports to Russian Federation. Imports of suspension have been declining for the second month. In May, the total import PVC-S to Russian market decreased to 31 thousand tonnes. In April this index made about 33 thousand tonnes.

PVC-S shipments from the USA fell in May to a record low level for the last two years – less than 8 thousand tonnes. Moreover, the imports of North American resin is expected to drop in June-July further, as a lot of companies switched to purchasing PVC-S from China in late April-early May due to more attractive prices. In late May many local companies held back from buying resin because of the considerable PVC-S price decrease in the USA and devaluation of the rouble, said MRC analyst, Sergei Karajchentsev.

The shipments of acetylene PVC from China fell to 8,200 tonnes in May following April surge of 13,300 tonnes. Temporary interruptions of resin shipments from China and the dollar-rouble exchange rates made many companies stop the purchases of acetylene resin.

Over the first five months, the total volume of PVC-S imports to Russian Federation made about 148 thousand tonnes which down 26% year on year.


MRC

(abc) -- State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) starts export of gaseous hydrocarbons from its Georgian terminal.

The Company reports that SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev has opened and commissioned a complex of structures on transshipment of liquid polypropylene at the Black Sea Terminal (BST Ltd) of SOCAR which started operating on 16 May 2008.

Polypropylene will be produced at SOCAR sub-company Azerikimya, located in Sumgait.

The new terminal facilities are designed for transshipment of liquid polyethylene and liquid polypropylene. Their construction was delayed because of troubles with delivery of manufacturing equipment from South Korea. New capacities, in addition to liquid polyethylene and liquid polypropylene will enable, if necessary, also transship liquefied or compressed gas.

Currently the Company orients to transshipment of 8,000-9,000 tons of LPG per month or 110,000-120,000 tons per year with annual capacity of the new terminal up to 150,000 tons.

Terminal BST Ltd is designed for transshipping 10 million tons of oil per year. It is able to accept Aframax tankers.

MRC