D&L and Japanese Showa Denko to partner for a worldwide supply of biodegradable plastic bags

MOSCOW (MRC) -- D&L Polymer and Colours Inc (DLPC), a unit of D&L Industries Inc, has united with a Japan’s leading chemical engineering company Showa Denko for the local and worldwide supply of Bionolle Starcla, a recyclable compound that can produce biodegradable plastic bags, according to D&L's press release.

DLPC and Showa Denko K.K., have inked an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement covering the compounding, manufacturing, and distribution both in the Philippines and worldwide, of Bionolle Starcla - a starch-based material that is fully biodegradable and compostable and designed to run on conventional plastic blown film lines. It can easily be decomposed.

According to the agreement, DLPC will provide a full scope of services, including export supply and local sales. The contract is valid until 19 November 2013 with automatic yearly renewal. Exports have already started in December 2012 with DLPC’s first shipment to Japan.

"Bionolle Starcla will breathe new life into the plastics industry, which has lost almost 40 percent of its business to the bans (by local government units)," said Lester Lao, managing director of DLPC. As MRC informed earlier, cities in a number of Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as in Europe are currently on the warpath against plastic shopping bags since they cause different echological problems. In mid-January, 2012, environmental organisations called on the European Commission (EC) to finally move toward regulating plastic bags.

D&L Industries, Inc.'s main business is the manufacturing of customized specialty food ingredients. It also makes specialty raw materials for the plastics industry, and is the first and only company in the Philippines that creates and develops customized aerosol products.

D&L Polymer and Colours Inc. (DLPC) was established for the development and production of specialty plastic compounds, precolored compounds and color & additive masterbatches aimed primarily for the export market and local multinational plastic processors. DLPC is the only company in the Philippines engaged in the production of biodegradable compounds and Bionolle Starcla is the latest addition to its products.

Showa Denko K.K. is a major manufacturer and marketer of chemical products serving a wide range of fields ranging from heavy industries, to the electronic and computer industries. The company has overseas operations and a joint venture with Netherlands-based Montell and Nippon Petrochemicals to manufacture and market polypropylenes (PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian plant Polief, Bashkiriya plans in 2013 to increase production of PET granulate by 70,000 tonnes. After successful launch of the project its total annual production by the end of the year will have made about 600,000 tonnes, according MRC ScanPlast.

According to the Polief' press service, the company in December received the permission from Glavgosekspertiza to expand the production of bottle PET. A new SSP reactor was delivered to the site in the autumn of 2012. The company scheduled to complete the project "PET-210" by the end of this year. The project will increase the capacity of PET production from 140,000 to 210,000 tonnes per year.

MRC analysts note that the increase in production capacity could result in oversupply of the material in the domestic market. To keep the balance of the market Russian producers plan to continue the displacement of Asian imports and increase the export shipments.

To the date, the total capacity of the Russian makers of bottle PET is about 530,000 tonnes per year. The annual capacity of Alco-Naphtha, Kaliningrad makes 220,000 tonnes. Production capacity of Senezh, Solnechnogorsk makes 100,000 tonnes per year. Sibur’s production of PET in Tver and Blagoveshchensk makes 70,000 and 140,000 tonnes per year, respectively.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- WBIDC, the West Bengal government's industry promotion arm, has appointed management consultancy company Deloitte as a transaction advisor for the proposed sale of its shares in troubled Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL), as per plastemart.

Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said the consultancy firm would evaluate the shares of the company after which WBIDC would put its entire block of shareholding in HPL for auction.

WBIDC has already invested around Rs. 835 crore in HPL. When asked if the highest auction price was insufficient for WBIDC to recover its investments made in the company since HPL was making huge losses at the moment, Chatterjee said "the agency's board will take a decision then."

As MRC informed earlier, the West Bengal government is keen on completing transfer of its shares in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), which is facing funds crunch, before March 31, 2013. Besides, West Bengal government decided to make an urgent pitch to the State Bank of India to save Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 tpa of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - China will maintain steady economic polices in 2013, leaving room for manoeuvre in the face of global risks while deepening reforms to support long-term growth, according to the official Xinhua news agency,
reported Reuters.

Chinese leaders have already pledged to ensure stable economic growth next year, and China's leaders were likely to stick with a growth target of 7.5 percent next year, the same as in 2012.

Experts say new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping needs to take bold steps in enacting economic reforms that could include restructuring how China achieves its growth by emphasizing consumption over investment and exports, and loosening the dominance of state companies. Moreover, China will ensure appropriate growth in bank loans and social financing in 2013 and will keep the yuan currency stable to cushion economy against global headwinds, Xinhua said.

"China will continue to implement the pro-active fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2013," Xinhua said. "The proactive fiscal policy will be combined with tax reforms and structural tax cuts and the prudent monetary policy will pay attention to dynamism and enhance operational flexibility."

China's economy still faces global uncertainties along with rising trade protectionism, while the risk of rising inflation and asset bubbles globally is increasing, it said. As MRC reported earlier, its annual economic growth dipped to 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the weakest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis in early 2009, but growth has been picking up steady since October thanks to a raft of pro-growth policies. There is also a severe recession in the Chinese market of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE). According to the estimates of the consulting company, which is working together with ICIS, development outlook of the Chinese PE and PP markets are not favourable due to the expected slowdown in economic growth in the country, as well as overproduction and oversupply of PE and PP to the market.

The country will push forward the next stage of economic reforms "with greater political courage and wisdom", Xinhua said. China will also stabilise its exports while boosting imports to gradually balance the country's international payments and expanding its outbound investment next year, Xinhua added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexichem, the Latin American leader in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), continued with internal discussions in an effort to respond to a force majeure announced last week by its feedstock VCM supplier PPG in the US, as per plastemart.

"We're still looking at the situation and looking to fill the quantity (of feedstock VCM) needed," the source said. "Our supply will be affected. It's just a matter of finding out to what extent." Market participants had expected Mexichem to declare force majeure in response to the VCM supply disruption.

PPG declared force majeure for liquid caustic soda on a system-wide basis and on vinyl chloride monomer produced at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, facility on December 27 following a chemical fire that began three days prior.

Mexichem is a Mexican company and one of the largest leader in the Latin American chemical and petrochemical industry with more than fifty years experience in the region and twenty-five years in the Mexican stock-market. The company operates in North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia and exports its products to more than 50 countries.

As MRC reported earlier, Mexichem is planning to invest nearly MXN 1.43bn (USD109m) to expand its chemical plant in Altamira, Mexico. Besides, Mexichem together with Occidental Chemical Corp (Oxychem) is going to build a cracker that would be fully operational in 2016. The cost of the venture is a USD1 bln. A feasibility study for the new cracker is expected to be ready in the second quarter of 2013.
MRC