Arkema developed technology to produce Kynar PVDF foam for wire and cable jacketing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer, has developed technology to manufacture Kynar PVDF foam structures for wire and cable jacketing and insulation applications, according to the company's press release.

The technology is based on the patent-pending foam concentrate Kynar Flex 2620 FC masterbatch resin.

"By foaming Kynar PVDF, we can demonstrate an improvement in dielectric constant of greater than 50 percent," says Sean Stabler, Arkema’s business development engineer for Kynar PVDF fluoropolymer foams.

The foaming technology and specialized masterbatch has been developed over several years by the R&D group in Arkema’s King of Prussia, PA laboratory. The masterbatch is sold in pellet form, which allows fine-tuning of foaming levels in any conventional extrusion process.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. As MRC reported recently, Moody's Investors Service had upgraded Arkema S.A.'s senior unsecured rating to Baa2 from Baa3. The outlook on the rating was changed to stable from positive.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huhtamaki, the Finnish-based consumer packaging specialist with worldwide operations, will build a moulded fibre egg packaging unit adjacent to its existing packaging facility in the greater Moscow area, according to FoodProduction.

The investment into the new project will make EUR5 million, and the unit is scheduled to start commercial production by the end of 2003.

Employing the company's proprietary Leotech moulded fibre technology, the new facility will bring modern, high quality egg packaging to the rapidly growing Russian supermarket sector.

"The Russian food retail business grew by a double-digit figure last year, and much of this is concentrated around Moscow and other major cities in western Russia," said Hannu Kottonen, Huhtamaki's division president for the Fresh Foods business.

"Because we are building this new operation at the same site as our rigid packaging plant, we will be able to enjoy a variety of economies of scale. The established Ivanteevka operation will provide shared infrastructure and logistical benefits, thus delivering value sooner than a typical green-field project," Kottonen added.

The new unit will concentrate on a narrow range of high-volume premium egg packaging, with complementary products sourced from other Huhtamaki units and technology licensees. This supply network enables the company to start sales and deliveries while the new unit is still under construction. The company already has a specialised fresh foods sales force in Russia.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, earlier this year, Huhtamaki Oyj's subsidiary Huhtamaki, Inc. has purchased a manufacturing facility in Batavia,Ohio, in the United States to set up a new state of the art manufacturing and distribution unit. With the purchase Huhtamaki continues its series of investments in expanding and strengthening its disposable product offering and capability in the United States.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In Egypt, the new local GPPS producer E-Styrenics, who has a 200,000 tons/year production capacity, divided evenly between GPPS and HIPS, started offering prime materials to their local market, according to Apic-online.

The producer, who started their commercial production in January this year, was offering off-spec materials to the market until recently. This past week, a competitive import Egyptian GPPS offer showed up in Italy.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, there are rumors regarding the Egyptian GPPS. Some players report expecting Egyptian cargoes by April and add that there are no offers present in the market at the moment while some claim to have received Egyptian offers since last month. Nonetheless, this week, an increasing number of players in Turkey started to report that they hear Egyptian cargoes at very competitive levels although some cannot be sure if these cargoes are given for prime or off-spec materials.

Players comment that should this new PS producer’s materials offer good quality for converters, they are very likely to take away some market share as Egyptian material is exempt from customs duties. Buyers expect to see more regular deliveries from the Egyptian producer for prime materials as competitive offer levels for these cargoes already showed up in Italy.

Meanwhile, looking at Egypt’s PS market, players complain about the weak market conditions amidst thin buying interest which is intensified further by the ongoing economic and political issues inside the country. Purchasing power has been hampered badly in Egypt given the country’s dwindling dollar reserves amidst the increasing dollar parity while Egyptian buyers continue to struggle when trying to open letters of credit at banks. On top of these issues, a fuel crisis and road problems have also sprung up, affecting deliveries as trucks are either stuck on the roads or in fuel queues.

As MRC wrote earlier, Egypt exported more than 11 thousand tons of homo PP to Turkey in the first month of 2013, which was a record high on a monthly basis for the country. Having been the fourth largest import PP supplier of Turkey throughout 2012, Egypt moved up to second place in the list of top PP suppliers in January, overtaking Greece and India, although it still lags well behind Saudi Arabia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In February, the total output of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) by Russian enterprises decreased by 8%, from January to about 85,000 tonnes on seasonal factors, as well as due to lower capacity utilisation of some enterprises, according to a MRC ScanPlast.

Overall, despite the low demand in the domestic market, the Russian producers keep capacity utilization at a high level (over 95%), the only exception made Stavrolen (Lukoil Group), which last month reduced the production of HDPE to 23,400 tonnes. In early March, the company stopped two of the three reactors for a few days.

Kazanorgsintez produced in February 39,000 tonnes of HDPE (from 37 million tonnes in February 2012). Nizhnekamskneftekhim keeps capacity utilization at 100%, from February production - about 18,000 tonnes. The fourth largest producer of HDPE - "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" last month produced about 4,700 tonnes.

Low demand and excess supply of HDPE in the domestic market, have forced the Russian makers to increase export sales. In January, Russia's exports of HDPE excluding deliveries to the Common Customs Union (ETS) made about 10,000 tonnes. In February, this figure rose to 12,000 tonnes. In January and February 2012, the Russian export sales of HDPE made 6,000 tonnes and 5,700 tonnes respectively.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In 2012, Russian companies invested USD141.7 million in polystyrene and styrene plastics processing, according to MRC Annual PS report.

This is a 24% decrease compared to 2011.

If investments in the increased processing capacities (tonne/year) are evaluated, then in 2012 complete lines with the total processing capacity of 258,000 tonnes of polystyrene per year were installed, which is only 7% less than in 2011.

Russian companies increased their investments in the Chinese equipment, the supply volume of which is estimated at USD49 million. Such an equipment mainly includes automatic moulding machines for processing of several types of polymers, including polystyrene.

At the same time, investments in European equipment fell in value terms from USD50.5 million in 2011 to USD28 million in late 2012.

In terms of processing technologies, the largest share of investments accounts for the moulding equipment - 175,000 tonnes per year, up 19% compared to 2011.

The total production capacity of the supplied equipment for foaming exceeded the level of 2011 by 12% and amounted to 53,000 tonmes per year.

The equipment (total processing capacity - 19,000 tonnes per year) for polystyrene processing technology "sheet extrusion" was imported.

MRC