Showa Denko dissolving PT Showa Esterindo and ending Indonesian ethyl acetate production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Showa Denko (SDK) has decided to dissolve it PT Showa Esterindo Indonesia (SEI) subsidiary and terminate the production of ethyl acetate in Indonesia, reported Apic-online.

SEI will be dissolved and liquidated "without delay" following the demolition and removal of the 50,000-t/y ethyl acetate facility. Production will be stopped by the end of this year.

"The demand for ethyl acetate in Southeast Asia had been stable for awhile. In recent years, however, the business environment for SEI has become harder than before because of rises in material prices and expansion of the capacities of neighboring countries to supply ethyl acetate," SDK explained.

As MRC wrote before, Showa Denko is in plans to shut its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant for maintenance turnaround in March 2015. It is planned to remain off-stream for around one month. Located at Oita in Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 175,000 mt/year.

Showa Denko K.K. is mainly engaged in the petrochemical business. The Petrochemical segment manufactures and sells olefin, organic chemicals and others. The Chemical Product segment supplies chemicals, industrial gases, special gas and functional drug for semiconductors, functional high molecular materials, among others.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German compounder and distributor Albis Plastic (Hamburg) has started distributing six copolyester products from Eastman Chemical (Kingsport, Tennessee / USA) in Turkey, said Plasteurope.

The new distribution agreement, which expands the two companies’ existing partnership, covers the products Durastar, Eastalloy, Eastar, Aspira, Tritan, and Provista and took effect from October 2014.

"In working closely with Albis as a distribution partner in this expanded territory we are underlining our pan-European distributor strategy, allowing us to serve beyond our current reach," said Reinier de Graaf, Eastman’s regional business director for specialty plastics in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region.

As MRC wrote before, Albis Plastic broadened its portfolio of distribution brands for the Spanish market to include Terluran standard ABS from Styrolution. The distribution agreement covers the injection moulding grades Terluran GP 22 and Terluran GP 35 as well as the extrusion type Terluran HI 10.

Albis Plastic, the Hamburg-based company, is one of the global operating companies in the distribution and compounding of technical thermoplastics. In addition to the product portfolio of well-known plastic manufacturers, Albis offers the plastic processing industry a diverse product range of high performance plastics, compound solutions and masterbatches.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Disruptions in operations at Khimprom (Volgograd) have led to an increase in prices of emulsion PVC (EPVC) in the Russian market. The Volgograd plant might completely shut down its production by the end of the month. At the same time, RusVinyl is ready to enter the market with its EPVC, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Khimprom (Volgograd) has been on the verge of bankruptcy for several years already. Supplies of natural gas to the plant were suspended in late September. To date, the plant continues producing EPVC, but its production might be shut down in the near future. Rumors of a complete halt in production have caused the rise in EPVC prices in the market.

Prices of Russian emulsion had risen in the spot market to Rb65,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, by the second week of October. At the same time some market participants reported tight supply of Russian material. Prices of Asian emulsion grew to Rb70,000/tonne FCA, including VAT.

Some market participants said supplies of natural gas to Khimprom (Volgograd) might be completely stopped on 9 October, which can lead to a complete and nonrecoverable shutdown of the plant's PVC production within a relatively short time.

Given such a stalemate in the market, RusVinyl intends to accelerate the process of launching its EVC production. A company representative said the plant is going to start this polymer production in the middle of the month.

As reported earlier, until recently, Khimprom (Volgograd) was Russia's only producer of emulsion PVC with its annual capacity of 27,000 tonnes. The plant's overall EPVC production totalled about 12,400 tonnes over the first eight months of this year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess has achieved a process innovation in the production of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic Tepex composites, as per the company's press release.

The subsidiary company Bond-Laminates, which manufactures these composites, is now able to continuously series-produce large semi-finished composite products in which the continuous fiber layers can be oriented at almost any conceivable angle. Until now, the continuous fibers in Tepex could only be lined up in the direction of production or perpendicular to it (0 degrees or 90 degrees). This process innovation means the designer can use the differently oriented composite continuous fibers to help him react more specifically to the force transmission in the target component. Even quasi-isotropic constructions can now be fashioned using Tepex.

"This means Tepex can be used to design lighter-weight composite components that are tailored even more specifically to the load in question. So the new-generation Tepex strengthens our position as a leading supplier of thermoplastic high-performance composites for lightweight design," says Dr. Dirk Bonefeld, head of Research and Development at Bond-Laminates.

These multiaxial Tepex semi-finished products are fully impregnated and consolidated. Despite being formable to quite extreme angles, their impregnation means the fibers are unlikely to slip. As in the past, Bond-Laminates will consult closely with the customer regarding cutting the semi-finished products into pre-contoured profiles for forming and overmolding or compressing. Special nesting programs help keep wastage to a minimum in almost all cases.

"Thus the processor receives a fully constructed, made-to-measure composite material that can be shaped into highly load-resistant, complex components in very short cycle times without generating wastage," says Bonefeld.

Their high-quality mechanical set of properties, which can be tailored to meet specific requirements, makes multiaxial Tepex semi-finished products the perfect material for manufacturing high-strength structural components and semi-structural components for automobiles in particular.

"For example, we are currently working on front end carriers, pedal and seating components, carriers for electrical and electronic modules, engine compartment guard plates, airbag housings and components used in underbody protection. We are also looking at components that require custom construction for meeting a combination of torsional and flexural load requirements," Bonefeld adds.

As MRC said before, Lanxess has successfully concluded the pilot phase for a highly efficient production process for butyl rubber. In the past seven years, Lanxess worked on a fundamentally new technology for a more sustainable production. An important step in this process was the testing of the new technology in two pilot plants at its production site in Zwijndrecht/Belgium since spring 2012.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- S. Korea's Trade Commission has recommended imposing anti-dumping duties on ethanolamine imports from the US, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, reported Apic-online with reference to Yonhap News.

The duties, ranging from 4.36% to 21.79% over the next three years, follow a 10-month investigation in which the commission interviewed suppliers from the four countries, as well as KPX Green Chemical, a local importer accused of dumping the product (PCN, 6 Jan 2014, p 3).

The recommendation will be submitted to Korea's fi-nance ministry with a final decision expected to made within 50 days.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, on 8 September 2014, China ended its anti-dumping duties on styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR) imports from Russia, Japan, and South Korea. In 2009, China extended its 4-38% anti-dumping duties on SBR imported from the countries by five years. Since the tax expired, the ministry was reviewing whether to extend it. The ministry said the domestic industry urged it not to continue imposing the anti-dumping duty and, therefore, it decided not to continue it.

Besides, China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) will suspend anti-dumping duties on adipic acid (polyamide intermediate) from the European Union, the US and South Korea, if applications for expiry reviews are not received from domestic adipic acid producers. Applications must be received at least 60 days prior to the 2 Nov. 2014 expiration of the measures. The duties, ranging from 5% to 35.4%, were imposed in 2009.
MRC