DKSH starts strategic partnership with BASF in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DKSH, the leading market expansion services provider, and BTC Chemical Distribution, a subsidiary of BASF, will start a strategic collaboration for colorants in the personal care and household industries in 14 Asian countries, as per BASF's press release.

Thus, DKSH’s Business Unit Performance Materials, a leading specialty chemicals distributor, has been appointed to provide market expansion services for BASF's product range of home and personal care colorants in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

BASF offers one of the most comprehensive line of colorants for the home and personal care industry. The cooperation includes the product lines Puricolor and Iragon. DKSH Business Unit Performance Materials has been chosen as the exclusive Market Expansion Services partner due to its comprehensive Pan-Asian coverage, through specialized teams in each countries and its broad range of services including eight innovation centers and six regulatory affairs centers.

"We are delighted that BASF has chosen DKSH as their market expansion services partner across Asia. We have a strong customer base that has been established over almost 150 years of doing business in Asia. We are convinced that our local business partners will be excited about the opportunity to have access to BASF’s products," commented Cesar Saez, Vice President, Business Line Personal Care Industry, DKSH Performance Materials.

As MRC wrote previously, in July 2014, Alpek and BASF signed agreements concerning the EPS (expandable polystyrene) and PU (polyurethane) business activities of their Polioles joint venture in Mexico, and BASF’s EPS business in North and South America, excluding BASF’s Neopor (grey EPS) business.

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. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).

DKSH Business Unit Performance Materials is a leading specialty chemicals distributor and provider of market expansion Services for performance materials, covering Europe, North America, and the whole of Asia. The Business Unit sources, develops, markets, and distributes a wide range of specialty chemicals and ingredients for pharmaceutical, personal care, food & beverage, as well as various industrial applications.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total's NC3 naphtha cracker in Antwerp, Belgium, is currently offline for an indefinite period due to an unplanned shutdown, according to Plastemart with reference to market sources in Platts.

A propylene buyer said that the shutdown was "semi-planned" and that it had been decided in the last month. He added that Total had already covered its position on monomers prior to the shutdown.

Total declined to comment on the matter. The Antwerp site hosts three crackers -- NC1, NC2 and NC3 -- with a combined ethylene capacity of 1.38 mln mtpa. NC3 has a capacity of 580,000 mtpa. The shutdown comes in the context of a weak and oversupplied European naphtha market, currently suffering from a lack of spot demand from petrochemical end-users maximizing their LPG cracking.

As MRC reported earlier, Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, intends to invest EUR160m before 2016 to adapt its petrochemical platform in Carling, in the Lorraine region of eastern France, and to restore its competitiveness.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Kayan Petrochemical said it has registered a net profit of SR66.91 million in the third quarter 2014 compared to a net loss of SR 43.27 million in the same period last year, said the company.

The increases in profit during Q3 compared with same quarter last year was due to the increase in the average selling prices & an increase in other income attributed mainly from foreign currency exchange gains.

Kayan’s nine month 2014 net losses reduced to SR65.24 million compared to SR 350 million during the same period last year. The decrease in losses is due to increase in the production & sales volume, increase in the average selling prices. During the same period of last year, the Company had shutdowns for some of the production units due to scheduled periodic maintenance.

Saudi Kayan operating profit increased by 352% to SR 366 million during first nine months of year 2014 compared to SR 80.9 million of the same period last year.

As MRC wrote earlier, Saudi Kayan, Sadara Chemical and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have joined forces to establish a new company, which will build the first butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world. The Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, will be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex in Jubail Industrial City and operated by Tasnee.

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company is a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nippon Shokubai has entered into a letter of intent with Takiron Co. in which Nippon will transfer all shares of its Nippon Polyester subsidiary to Takiron, as per Apic-online.

A final share transfer agreement will be signed after negotiations of transfer conditions. Cost of the transaction was not given.

Nippon Shokubai believes that synergies between Nippon Polyester and Takiron would enable further growth for Nippon Polyester, because Takiron has developed various resins products, including polycarbonate, and has strong capabilities in technology and marketing.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2013, Nippon Shokubai Co. received a new "lift of restrictions," allowing the company to resume production at a second acrylic acid unit at its Himeji complex in Japan. Two separate explosions at its Himeji site on September 2012 forced the company to stop production of acrylic acid and superabsorbent polymers and resulted in the suspension of most operations at Himeji.

Nippon Shokubai produces one fifth of the global volume of superabsorbent polymers and it is one of the world's biggest makers of acrylic acid, the main ingredient of a resin called SAP, which is used in diapers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Building on their existing relationship, German compounder and distributor Albis Plastic (Hamburg) in late October broadened its product portfolio in Portugal to include Styrolution’s (Frankfurt / Germany) Terluran standard ABS grades, said Plasteurope.

Albis Plastic is now marketing Terluran GP 22 and GP 35 injection moulding as well as Terluran HI 10 extrusion grades in the south European country.

The German distributor already markets the range in Spain and also represents Styrolution in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as large parts of northern, central and eastern Europe.

As MRC informed previously, in line with this strategey the company announced its two initiatives in October 2013: a planned joint venture with Braskem to produce ABS standard and ABS specialties in South America, and new AMSAN specialty production at Styrolution's plant in Altamira, Mexico.

The Styrolution Group GmbH is a global provider of styrenics , headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The company is a joint venture between BASF (50%) and INEOS (50%), were merged into the main styrene operations of the two partners. Its main focus is on the production of monomer, polystyrene, styrenic specialties, and ABS. The company offers styrene plastics for a variety of everyday products from different industries, such as automotive, electronics, construction, household, leisure, packaging, medicine and health.
MRC