Asahimas Chemical to spend USD400 million on plant expansion in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahimas Chemical, a joint venture between Japan’s Asahi Glass Company and Indonesia’s Rodamas Group, plans to invest up to USD400 million to expand its petrochemical facility in Cilegon, Banten, reported GV.

The company has scheduled to start construction this year, according to Eddy Sutanto, a director of Asahimas Chemical.

This expansion will allow for the increased production of caustic soda to 700,000 tonnes a year from the current 500,000 tonnes a year and will increase production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to 600,000 tonnes from 280,000 tonnes.

"Construction will take at least two to two-and-a-half years. The factory is expected to start producing by the end of 2015," he added.

Asahimas has identified an increasing demand for caustic soda and PVC from domestic and regional industries and has decided to make Indonesia the production base for both chemicals.

Around 80% of the current chemicals produced at Asahimas are for domestic markets, while the remainder is shipped abroad.

Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat said that Asahimas’s plan demonstrates the opportunities available in Indonesia’s petrochemical industry.

Panggah Susanto, director general for the manufacturing industry at the ministry, said that Indonesia will need at least USD18 billion in further investments in the petrochemical industry, USD15 billion of which should go towards building three new oil refineries.

Panggah said that due to the lack of domestic processing facilities, Indonesia needs to import USD8 billion worth of petrochemical products this year. He added that demand for petrochemical products is growing by 10% a year.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2013, Thailand's PTT Global Chemical Public Company (PTTGC) and Indonesia’s Pertamina have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) this week to jointly invest up to USD5bn in a giant petrochemical complex in Indonesia. The facility will be operational by 2017.

PT Asahimas Chemical operates integrated Chlor Alkali-Vinyl Chloride plants in Cilegon, Banten, Indonesia, and produces basic chemicals for many of downstream industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A. Schulman Inc. said it expected to cut positions on its restructuring plans in its Europe, Middle East and Africa region, citing the poor economic climate in Europe, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The maker of plastic compounds, which supplies a wide swath of markets such as packaging, construction, electronics and personal care, had been hurt in recent quarters by its heavy exposure to Europe's economy. Since 2010, the company has executed a series of cost-cutting programs in the continent as demand as waned.

"We have confidence in the long-term strength of our EMEA business, and we continue to focus on growth opportunities in markets such as the Middle East, Turkey and Russia," said Chief Executive Joseph M. Gingo.

Also, A. Schulman announced that it intends to sell its rotational compounding business in Brisbane, Australia. The business, which the company described as a very small portion of its portfolio, recorded revenue of about USD25 million in fiscal 2012. The company plans to engage a financial adviser to help it sell the business and it expects to complete the sale within 6 to 12 months. The operating results of the business, which were previously part of the company's Asia Pacific segment, will be recorded as discontinued operations in future financial statements.

As MRC wrote previously, A. Schulman Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 30% with a boost from a tax benefit, though the company said it was continuing restructuring efforts in Europe to address weakening market trends and was initiating consolidation efforts in Brazil.

A. Schulman is a global plastics supplier, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins, which are used as raw materials in a variety of markets. A. Schulman has 33 manufacturing facilities globally. It reported net sales of USD2.2 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2011.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dozens of residents and property owners are suing ExxonMobil Pipeline Company two months after a pipeline ruptured and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in the central Arkansas city of Mayflower, said Arkansasbusiness.

Attorneys for a number of residents and property owners filed the lawsuit in Faulkner County on Tuesday seeking damages after the company's Pegasus pipeline ruptured on March 29 and spilled the oil in Mayflower.

Shawn Daniels, one of the lawyers for the residents and property owners, said Wednesday that he didn't have an estimate of how much money his clients are seeking.

"That's one of the things that we just won't know," Daniels said. "If it was strictly an appraisal issue on X number of houses, then you could mathematically compute it, but there are differences ... At this early stage, there's just no way to have any kind of a figure in mind."

The lawsuit says some of the Mayflower residents who are suing have had headaches, nausea and other health problems as a result of the spill. The lawsuit also says some residents have experienced property damage and declines in property value.

The residents and homeowners are seeking a jury trial. ExxonMobil spokesman Aaron Stryk said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit as of Wednesday evening and declined to comment.

As MRC wrote earlier, Exxon Mobil's first quarter 2013 earnings were USD9.5 billion, up 1% from the first quarter of 2012, reported the company in its press release. Capital and exploration expenditures for the first quarter were USD11.8 billion, including USD3.1 billion for the acquisition of Celtic Exploration Ltd.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Friday launched an antidumping probe into chemical imports from the European Union and the U.S., the government said, amid heightened trade tensions between the giant economies, said Nasdaq.

The commerce ministry said it has started investigating whether EU and U.S. firms were selling perchlorethylene below cost--a tactic to win market share and eliminate competitors--after complaints from domestic companies.

Perchlorethylene, also called tetrachloroethylene, is a colourless fluid widely used in dry cleaning.

This is the second such anti-dumping procedure by China against European and U.S. industries in less than a month, after an investigation into companies making unwelded pipes.

Trade relations between China and the EU have been strained by disputes over solar panels and telecom equipment.
EU member states are due to vote on June 5 on imposing a 47% tariff on solar panels made by China, the EU's second- largest trading partner.

The EU is also planning to investigate Chinese manufacturers of telecom equipment, such as Huawei and ZTE.
The U.S. has already imposed punitive tariffs on some Chinese solar panel makers to offset the impact of their alleged unfair competitive advantages. As MRC wrote before, the US Commerce Department imposed tariffs of 31%to 250% on Chinese solar-product imports, siding with companies that said the items were sold below the cost of production.

In their turn, China’s government imposed antidumping duties (ADDs) on imports of downstream monoethylene glycol (MEG) based products from the European Union and the United States.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nestle Waters North America Inc. is rolling out water bottles made with 50% recycled PET, said Plasticsnews.

According to Californians against Waste, most of the recycled content will be provided by CarbonLite Industries LLC, a recycler in Los Angeles.

The bottle looks no different than a bottle made with virgin PET resin, is just durable and functional, and meets all FDA standards and definitions, Lazgin said.

Nestle is hoping the bottles will help promote closed-loop PET bottle recycling. They’re "a reminder to recycle, because that’s the only way to get more supply to make this recycled package," Lazgin said.

Consumer will often ask why bottles aren’t made entirely of recycled PET, or why more products don’t use recycled material. The answer is supply, she added.

According to Californians Against Waste, California collects approximately 70% of plastic beverage bottles for recycling. More than 200 million pounds of recycled PET is processed and sold by California companies, with potential capacity of 300 million pounds.

The ReBorn bottle may be a reminder, but it’s also a milestone. Nestle started exploring environmentally friendly packaging in 1994. Now, almost 20 years into that journey, half-liter water bottles are 60% lighter. And since 2003, the company has saved 3.3 billion pounds of plastic through light weighting, she said.

In 2007, the company redesigned and reengineered its bottles into their current design, named EcoShape, which features a narrow waist and stronger shoulders to support using only 9.2 grams of material.

As MRC wrote earlier, Nestle Waters claims that a novel silica dioxide coating added to San Pellegrino PET water bottles will cut their weight, increase their carbon retention and increase their shelf-life by three months.

Nestle Waters North America is a business-unit of Nestle that produces and/or distributes numerous brands of water across North America.
MRC