April TiO2 imports to Russia surged by 26%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of titanium dioxide (TiO2) into Russia rose by 1,700 tonnes in April, up by 26% from March, and totalled 8,200 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

Consumption of titanium dioxide in Russia has shown a steady growth since early 2014. Buying activity has been seasonally increasing, said market players. Producers of paints and coatings, and window profiles stepped up thier purchases. Producers of paints and coatings accounted for the largest shipments in April.

Overall, converters from this sector imported 5,800 tonnes of titanium dioxide in April, up by 400 tonnes from March. 1,900 tonnes of TiO2 were imported for producers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) window profiles, up by 1,000 tonnes from March, whereas 590 tonnes of material were shipped for paper production, up by almost 300 tonnes from April.

US producer Dupont remained the leading supplier. In its turn, shipments of Crimean Titan's TiO2 totalled 1,600 tonnes in April. Crimea TiOx-220 grade remained the most popular grade in the market (its April imports was 860 tonnes).

The overall TiO2 imports to Russia totalled 24,500 tonnes from January to April 2014, which almost equals the same figure year on year. There were no significant changes in the supply structure. Ukraine remained the largest supplier of titanium dioxide to Russia. The Ukrainian grades accounted for about 34.5% of the market.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman Chemical, a global specialty chemical company, has announced the public offering of USD500 million 4.65% 30-year notes due 2044 (the "Notes"). The offering of the Notes was closed on May 15, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions, as per the company's press release.

Eastman intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes for general corporate purposes, which may include working capital, capital expenditures, the repayment of indebtedness outstanding from time to time and other matters in connection with the implementation of its strategic initiatives. Eastman may use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in businesses, products and technologies that are complementary to its current business.

As MRC wrote previously, brand owners can now select Eastman Tritan copolyester and Eastar copolyester from Eastman Chemical Company for carbon filtration and reverse osmosis systems. Unlike polycarbonate (PC), both materials are made without bisphenol A (BPA), a big advantage for brand owners looking to answer consumers’ needs for BPA-free products. Tritan and Eastar provide a clear view of the filtration media, without the breakage and durability issues associated with some clear plastics, including styrene acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN). The glasslike clarity of Tritan and Eastar also allow for greater tinting flexibility, compared with the noticeable blue cast of SAN.

Eastman (headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA) is a global specialty chemical company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With a portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. Its market-driven approaches take advantage of world-class technology platforms and leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally diverse company, Eastman serves customers in approximately 100 countries and had 2013 revenues of approximately USD9.4 billion.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- By acquiring a majority stake in InnovationLab GmbH, Merck and BASF, the world's largest petrochemical producer, are increasing their involvement in order to continue the successful scientific work of the Heidelberg-based research and transfer platform for organic electronics in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, as per BASF's press release.

InnovationLab GmbH arose from the Forum Organic Electronics cooperation network, which until the end of last year was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the leading-edge cluster competition.

"By continuing with InnovationLab GmbH, we have reached a key goal of the leading-edge cluster competition, that being to build a bridge between business and science," says Karl Hahn, Senior Vice President at BASF.

Merck and BASF have increased their interest to 70% - together with the University of Heidelberg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) they will make up the advisory board of the research platform. "By consolidating the joint research activities of academia and business under one roof, we have created a new, effective model for successful scientific transfer," says Martin Raditsch, CEO of InnovationLab.

InnovationLab GmbH stems from an initiative in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region and was jointly founded by companies and universities in that area together with Merck. Research operations started in 2011 with a high-tech lab for printed and organic electronics costing more than EUR15 million, which was made possible through EUR40 million in funding from the BMBF (2008-2013). An additional EUR40 million was contributed by industrial partners of the cluster. The setup of the cluster structure was supported by the German federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2014, BASF established the research initiative "Network for Advanced Materials Open Research" (NAO) together with seven leading universities and research institutes in China, Japan and South Korea. The scientists aim to cooperate in developing new materials for a wide range of applications. The initial focus is on products for the automotive, construction, detergent and cleaners industries as well as the water and wind energy industries.

Besides, as part of BASF's major innovation investment in China, the company opened in November 2013 the first Innovation Campus Asia Pacific and its new Greater China headquarters at its site in Pudong, Shanghai. The investment amounts to EUR 55 million. With this expansion the company's site will be one of BASF's largest outside of Germany. The further expansion of the facility is also planned.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco announced that its downstream investments would exceed USD100 billion over the next decade, as global demand for oil rises by a quarter in the next 25 years, as per Plastemart.

"Globally, these investments will exceed USD100 billion over the next decade alone and that is premised on our belief in the long term sustainability of oil demand," Khalid al-Falih, the company's chief executive said, "As a result of both global demographic growth and rising standards of living in the developing world we see global demand for oil growing by a quarter over the next 25 years.

Aramco's refining capacity would be between 8 million to 10 million barrels a day (bpd) in the coming years, a figure exceeding the goal cited by Aramco in 2012 of 8 million bpd. The increased demand will primarily com from high demand growth markets of the Far East and from the Middle East. Aramco is also looking to grow within the petrochemicals sector with two major projects. Aramco has a joint venture with Dow Chemical Co to build the USD20 billion Sadara petrochemical complex in Jubail that is due to come on stream in H2-2015 is also expanding its petrochemical complex called PetroRabigh that it jointly owns with Sumitomo Chemical. This will take total chemicals participate production capacity to over 15 mln tpa.

As MRC wrote before, Saudi Aramco Products Trading Co., the fuel marketing unit of Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer, started selling products of an affiliated petrochemicals maker. Aramco Trading will sell products including polypropylene and polyethylene made by Rabigh Refining & Petrochemicals Co.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world's most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran’s 1,500 km long West Ethylene Pipeline is expected to go operational by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2015), said Plastemart, citing Managing director of Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

The NPC is giving priority to completion of underway petrochemical projects, and the West Ethylene Pipeline, which would meet feedstock requirements of petrochemical plants located in the western part of the country, will begin operations by 2015. The West Ethylene Pipeline, construction of which began in 2002, is considered to be the longest ethylene transfer pipeline in the world, stretching from Assaluyeh in southern Iran, to West Azarbaijan province in north-western Iran.

The pipeline is structured to transfer 150,000 tons of ethylene to Tbriz Petrochemical Plant. It would also cater to feedstock requirements of Lorestan, Mahabad and Kurdestan petrochemical plants.

Mr. Moqqadm also informed that the second phase of the Kavian Petrochemical Plant, which forms part of the world’s biggest petrochemical complex in Asalouyeh, is also expected to go operational by the end of the current calendar year. Once the second phase of the Kavian Petrochemical Plant begins operations, the plant would be able to supply feedstock to other petrochemical plants located on route of the West Ethylene Pipeline.

Currently, Kavian Petrochemicals fetches ethane from phases 4, 5, 9 and 10 of South Pars gas field, as phases 15-8 of South Pars are still under construction. On completion of the second phase, Kavian would be able to inject more ethylene to West Ethylene Pipeline. Kavian Petrochemical Plant houses capacity to process 2.58 million tons of feedstock to produce 2 mln tpa of ethylene. Around 14 petrochemical plants, which are either operational or being constructed with an investment of USD 8.5 billion, lie on the route of the pipeline, which would pass through 11 provinces in the country such as Fars, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kohguiluyeh Boyer Ahmad, Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari, Kurdstan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamedan, East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan.

Iran has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical products over the past few years, and the National Iranian Petrochemical Company has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.
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