Brazilian Plastic Industry Trade Association raised tariffs

(Business News Americas) -- Brazil's national plastics industry association Abiplast said the decision to raise import tariffs on plastic resins was a surprise and would lead to higher raw material costs for the industry.

Jose Ricardo Roriz Coelho, president of Abiplast said in statement "the greatest surprise is that these inputs are supplied by just one company in Brazil, the monopoly consisting of Braskem."

Roriz said the government should not be protecting this monopoly from international competition, but rather those companies further down the plastic chain who add value to products and create employment.

"This misguided measure could have a negative impact on the end prices of various products... decisions such as this increase in the tariff help one company at a particular time, but have a devastating effect on the production chain," Roriz said.

"There are various sectors that should be protected which are exposed to unfair international competition, but this is definitely not the case for thermoplastic resins."
MRC

Paragon Films studying new plant location in Washington

(plasticsnews) -- Stretch film extruder Paragon Films Inc. is looking to open a new manufacturing facility in Washington State.

The company is conducting feasibility analysis and has filed an environmental review application with the city of Union Gap, Wash., for an existing 100,000-square-foot plant, said David Spurlock, Union Gap’s development coordinator.

Though conducting studies is good sign, it’s no guarantee that Paragon will open a plant in Union Gap, he said, adding that the review process can take up to two months and the purchase could fall through for unrelated reasons.

Paragon is looking to expand capacity, but the company is still early in the expansion process and not quite ready to talk publicly, said Dave McFadden, president of the Yakima County (Washington) Development Association.

Paragon, based in Broken Arrow, Okla., manufactures polyethylene roll and specialty films for the food packaging, industrial and agricultural markets. It operates two plants -- in Broken Arrow and Taylorsville, N.C.-- and had sales of USD145 million in 2011, according to a recent Plastics News film and sheet industry survey.
MRC

Minimal impact on BOPP resins from Malaysian anti-dumping probe

(platts) -- Malaysia's anti-dumping probe into biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film-grade has had minimal impact on demand for BOPP resins, market sources said Thursday.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry reported on its web site July 24 that it had opened the probe into imports of BOPP film-grade originating in Taiwan, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Resins producers and traders said the anti-dumping probe was into the finished product, not the resins which as a result had seen no impact. "Regardless of it, the downstream will still need the resin material," a Malaysia BOPP resin producer said.

A Thai BOPP resin producer said the impact should be limited as Malaysia is not a big consumer of the product, while a trader based in Vietnam said it had not heard anything from its customers but would monitor matters.

BOPP film-grade is classified under harmonized system code 3920.20.200 and ASEAN harmonized tariff nomenclature 3920.20.00.20.

BOPP imports from ASEAN countries and China do not have to pay any import duties because of free trade agreements while Taiwanese BOPP imports have 3.5-8% import duties.
MRC

Polyplastics completes acquisition of LCP monomer supplier

(specialchem4polymers) -- Polyplastics Co., Ltd. announced recently the completion of the acquisition of 100% ownership of LCP Leuna Carboxylation Plant GmbH, a German supplier of p-HBA (p-hydroxybenzoate, a key monomer for liquid crystal polymer), from Infatrade (UK) Ltd., London.

The liquid crystal polymer ("LCP") is one of the super engineering plastics and has excellent properties such as heat resistance, dimensional stability, flowability and moldability. In recent years, LCP is mainly applied to key electronic parts of cutting-edge IT devices such as smart phones and tablet computers.

Thanks to their booming popularity, an exponential increase in demand is expected. Polyplastics is the leading manufacturer of LCP and has the biggest production capacity in the world. Polyplastics believes that the acquisition will help strengthen the technical advantage of its LCP business through the research and development process to the production process, i.e., from raw material monomers to finished resin products, and will enable a stable supply of higher-quality products to customers.

Regarding the business operation of LCPG, the present LCPG management team will carry on the business with existing valued customers as before. Furthermore, LCPG will maintain the responsibility for supply of p-HBA and related products with required investments in quality improvement and expansion of productivity.

Polyplastics, Tokyo, is a joint venture between Daicel Corporation Japan, and Ticona.
MRC

BP: transformation takes time

(seekingalpha) -- BP is in the process of transforming itself by emphasizing safety and focusing on high margin market segments. As an example, the company recently agreed to sell its Carson, California refinery business to Tesoro (TSO).

BP has been through the wash since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. On a positive note, the company noted in its Q2 2012 earnings call held on July 31, 2012 that it has contributed nearly USD18 billion to the disaster trust with the final payment scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, which will complete the USD20 billion fund. However, if the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has its way, the USD20 billion might not be enough to take care of the situation, as the DoJ believes it can prove gross negligence, which could up the cost. The U.S. DoJ trial is scheduled for January 14, 2013, so we'll have to wait a while to determine the final outcome.

BP's problems are not confined to the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been having problems related to its join ownership of Russian oil company TNK-BP. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company, and due to Russian law, BP is limited to 50% ownership of the company.

In the second quarter, BP's net income attributed to TNK-BP was 58% lower than last year and 61% lower than the previous quarter. BP noted it has received unsolicited indications of interest regarding the acquisition of shares of TNK-BP, so with a sale of TNK-BP, BP could relieve itself of its TNK-BP problems. However, BP noted that even with a sale of its interest in TNK-BP, it intends to continue to be involved in the Russian energy sector.
MRC