DCM Shriram forms JV with US-based Axiall for polymer compounding

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited (DSCL) has entered into a joint venture agreement for its polymer compounding business with Axiall Corporation, a North American manufacturer of chloro-vinyl, aromatics and building products, said Business-standard.

Under the agreement, Axiall will invest Rs 34.65 crore to acquire a 50% stake in in Shriram Vinyl Polytech (SVP), a 100% subsidiary of DCM Shriram Consolidated. Consequently, SVP will have access to Axiall’s polymer compounding technology and market knowledge. This arrangement is intended to enable SVP to launch latest-generation polymer compounds in India, offering more cost-effective polymer solutions for different applications to Indian customers.

Axiall's products can be used in high-performance plastics, pulp and paper production, packaging, chemical intermediates, pharmaceuticals, medical and agricultural applications, and paints, acrylics and varnishes. Under the Royal Building Products and Exterior Portfolio brands, Axiall manufactures a complete line of custom and other vinyl-based building and home improvement products including window profiles, siding, pipe and fittings, mouldings and trim, and decking.

As MRC informed before, Axiall Corp. says it is considering building a USD3 billion ethane cracker and chemical plant in Louisiana. The Atlanta-based chemical manufacturer says it could make a decision sometime early next year. Axiall would invest USD1 billion of its own money, while an unnamed partner would put in USD2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Octal Petrochemicals is setting up a project in Saudi Arabia to manufacture polyethylene terephthalate (PET) dairy cups and trays for dairy and poultry industries, said Timesofoman.

Octal Petrochemicals will be investing USD20 million for the downstream project, which will generate USD70 million revenue per annum, once it goes on stream.

"We are in an advanced stage to implement the project. We have already formed the company and have recently leased the land. Orders have been placed for equipment," said Geroge Freiji, manager (Corporate Development) of Octal. He also said that the Saudi venture is a 100 per cent owned by the Omani company.

"Our main base of operations is in Oman and Saudi will be a downstream project for a specific segment, which is dairy segment. The project is a downstream venture to our Salalah project," he said, adding: "The main raw material (PET sheets) for the Saudi project will be exported from Salalah." The project will be commissioned within six to eight months.

Freiji said the Saudi Arabian company would manufacture 4,000 tonnes of PET dairy cups and trays in the initial phase.

Octal Petrochemicals last year said that the value of the company's exports stands at USD100 million per month or about 2% of the gross domestic products of the Sultanate and 15% of the non-oil exports. The company has achieved remarkable revenue growth — from USD500 million to USD1.5 billion over a six-year period only after being rated as one of the biggest four producers of PET resin and PET sheets.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft wants its Chinese partners in on a project to build a polymer plant in the far eastern city of Nakhodka, said Ria.

The tentative deal is in exchange for Rosneft’s participation in the construction of the Tianjin oil refinery, a joint project with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Igor Sechin said.

Sechin did not specify what share of the Eastern Petrochemical Company, which is behind the polymer plant, would go to the Chinese state-run company. The Eastern Petrochemical Company, a Rosneft subsidiary, is set to construct a petrochemical complex in Nakhodka worth an estimated USD1.3 trillion rubles (USD37 billion).

The plant is expected to produce up to 6.8 mln tons of polymers a year by 2028, which would require Rosneft to increase the amount of oil pumped through the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO) from the current 30 mln tons of crude a year to 90 mln tons.The Tianjin refinery, in the works since 2010, has a price tag of USD5 bln and is to be 51% owned by CNPC and 49% by Rosneft.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A move to lightweighting and cost reduction is motivating India’s automotive sector to increasingly look to replace metal components with plastic alternatives, reported Ein News with reference to analysts at Research and Markets.

"India is one of the major producers of automotive plastics, hence during last half a decade (sector) demand (has seen) exponential growth," said the authors of "India Automotive Plastics Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017".

"Plastics have many benefits over traditional steal based components - the plastics in automotive sector is being accepted on a large scale in India."

According to the report, India’s automotive plastics market revenues grew at an annual rate of around 25% during 2009-12. The consumption of polypropylene (PP) and polyurethane is forecasted to double in terms of revenues in automotive plastics sector during the next five years.

The leading automotive plastics manufacturers in India are BASF, Bayer, SRF and Dow Chemicals, said Research and Markets.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF' plastic, a highly reinforced polyamide was used in the production of a front end carrier in the new Golf 7. This is one of the world's first front end carriers without metal reinforcement. Ultramid B3WG8 will replace the previous polypropylene (PP) hybrid part. The sheet steel parts that had been attached previously are now eliminated.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The capacity of the Ukrainian market of PET chips decreased 157,600 tonnes in 2013, down 3.5% from the previous year, according to MRC Annual Survey.

The decline in Ukraine's PET consumption resulted from the overstocked inventories, sluggish buying activity in the market last autumn, reduced of the preform weight (new bottles with thinner throat), and weaker production rates in the manufacturing sector amid the economic downtrend in country, said market players.

Consumption of PET in the first half of the year was quite strong. PET consumption exceeded 100,000 tonnes over the two quarters in 2013, up 13% year on year. Local converters expected the consumption rates to remain until the end of the year. The outlook for the end of the year was also positive.
But low sales in the sector of the finished product in the autumn did not allow converters to reach their goals. Many companies reported overstocked inventories in autumn, which they managed to sell only by the New Year.

According to official statistics of Ukraine, the index of the processing industry in 2013 decreased by 7.7% compared to 2012.
Ukraine does not have its own PET chips production. Demand from the packaging and processing industries are fully covered by imports, mainly from China. Ukraine's PET imports hit the record in 2007, with 248,000 tonnes delivered.
MRC