Huntsman appoints Managing Director for India Subcontinent

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman Corporation has named Harshad Naik as Managing Director, India Subcontinent, with effect from September 2016, said Thehindubusinessline.

He succeeds Rohit Aggarwal who was appointed President of Textile Effects Division in July this year.
In his new role, Harshad will lead the cross divisional collaboration required to deliver growth, build external partnerships and asset investments. He will represent Huntsman in engaging with government organizations and other key stakeholders in the region. This new responsibility is in addition to his current role as Director, Polyurethanes business, India Subcontinent.

Rohit Aggarwal says, "We are pleased to welcome Harshad as the new Managing Director. The company is well positioned to tap on the growth opportunities in India and the experience that Harshad brings will add significant value to the overall performance of the company. We are confident that his strong business acumen and deep industry knowledge will lead Huntsman to its next growth phase. We wish him success for his new role".

Commenting on his appointment, Harshad said “I humbly accept my new role; it’s a great responsibility. I look forward to achieving the organizational goals with the support of our talented teams. India is currently the fastest growing large economy due to favorable demographics. We will leverage on the current growth trends and market potential. We will integrate and execute strategic plans for differentiated growth. Customer’s centricity is the core to all activities and will continue to be the foremost priority for every contributor in the organization. We will strengthen our market position and drive efficiency for overall excellence across verticals. I am confident that through our commitment and efforts we will achieve higher growth and contribute significantly to Huntsman’s global performance."

As MRC informed earlier, Huntsman Corporation (The Woodlands, Texas) will include textile effects and the balance of its pigments and additives segment in the spinoff of its titanium dioxide (TiO2) business.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2013 revenues of over USD11 billion. Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. The company's operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging.
MRC

Lotte Chemical Titan to shut LDPE unit in Malaysia for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan is plans to shut its Low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the company will be taking its unit off-stream in December 2016. The unit is likely to shut in early-December and expected to remian off-line until end-December 2016.

Located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the LDPE unit has a production capacity of 230,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Lotte Chemical Titan is studying the possibility of building a USD4 billion upstream plant to reduce imports of raw materials. Around 40% of the total investment needed for the new plant would be taken from the company’s internal cash, while the rest would be from bank loans. Lotte Chemical, which currently has a production capacity of 450,000 tons of polyethylene per year, expects the upstream plant to boost production capacity to 1 million tons by creating ethylene.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

Ascend Performance Materials developed new grades of Vydyne PA66

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ascend Performance Materials will be showcasing its most recent innovative grades of Vydyne PA66 at the K Show, the world’s largest plastics trade show, in Dusseldorf from October 19-26, as per the company's press release.

Ascend, the world’s largest fully-integrated producer of PA66 resin, manufactures materials used in the automotive, consumer, industrial, textile, electrical and electronic and carpet industries. Customers also rely on Vydyne PA66 fiber products for air bags and tire cord.

"We are fully committed to the PA66 chain. It is our only business," said Phil McDivitt, president, Ascend Performance Materials. "Our 60-plus years of PA66 expertise combined with our world-class operations and continued investments in people, technologies and facilities make Ascend the choice when customers are looking for new PA66 solutions."

The new Vydyne R530HR PA66 grade delivers "best-in-class" thermal and hydro-aging performance for demanding automotive cooling system applications.

For fuel-efficient turbocharged engines, the Vydyne PA66 HT-series provides high levels of resistance to property degradation after long term exposure to this challenging operating environment.

Vydyne R860 is a new 'eco-friendly' reinforced PA66 compound with post-industrial recycled content that delivers the right balance between performance and economics when used in fans and shrouds.

Push-to-release fasteners using Ascend’s material were designed for the 2015 Ford Mustang and received the Society of Plastics Engineers Innovation Award in the Body Exterior Category.

New heat-stabilized grades of Vydyne PA66 offer superior temperature resistance for transmission covers, oil pan covers and air intake manifolds.

Ascend manufactures the world’s largest portfolio of PA66 products for cable ties and fasteners, including grades of Vydyne that are impact modified, heat stabilized, outdoor weatherable and UV resistant.

Vydyne 47H BK0644, a new impact modified grade of PA66, delivers best-in class heat resistance, toughness, flexibility and UV resistance.

New grades of Vydyne PA66 deliver cost-saving manufacturing advantages, including low plate out, fast cycling and high flow.

New high-viscosity grades of Vydyne PA66 for the food packaging and industrial film industries offer improved heat performance, gloss and superior puncture resistance when compared to alternative polyamide offerings. Vydyne® PA66 homo-polymer and co-polymer resins can enable a simpler film layer construction.

Glass-filled Vydyne PA66 provides cost performance when used in thermal breaks in window frames to increase insulation.

Several new grades of Vydyne PA66 offer strength, toughness, stiffness, heat resistance, precise color and durability.

The glass-filled and electrically neutral Vydyne PA66 J-Series is copper-free and halogen-free, heat-stabilized (155 C for 1000 hours), CTI>600V and is laser-markable and laser-weldable.

Vydyne ECO315J is a new unfilled, halogen-free PA66 grade for electrical connectors that offers superior ductility, meets UL94 VO at 0.4mm and exhibits enhanced heat aging of 1000 hours at 135 C.

Vydyne ECO366H is a new flame retardant, non-halogenated and heat stabilized grade of PA66 for use in electrical applications in the construction, data communication, renewable energy and transportation industries. ECO366H meets the standards of UL94, offering a V-0 rating, a GWFI (glow wire flammability index) of 960 C and a RTI (relative thermal index) electrical of 150 C down to 0.4 mm. This grade is designed for high performance and long-lasting electrical applications.

No-Shock is a PA66-based bicomponent fiber that is a permanent anti-static solution and is dyeable for pastel colors in clothing and textiles. The fiber is available as filament (drawn and undrawn), staple fiber and sliver forms in a wide range of deniers. No-Shock repels lint and dust, is static-free and chemical-free and OEKO-TEX certified. No-Shock is ideal for woven, knit and electrically embedded wearables.

Ascend’s PA66 fiber products serve the carpet, consumer apparel, clothing, shapewear and sportswear industries, along with manufacturers of tire cord and vehicle airbags.

As MRC informed before, in May 2015, Netherlands-based material supplier Royal DSM partnered with U.S. chemical maker Ascend Performance Materials Inc. to supply compounds based on polyamide 66 (PA66).
MRC

PC production in Russia increased by 11% in January-September 2016

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production volumes of polycarbonate (PC) in the Russian market reached about 54,200 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, up 11% year on year, according MRC ScanPlast.

The only producers of polycarbonate in Russia - Kazanorgsintez produced about 6,100 tonnes of polycarbonate in September against 6,400 tonnes a month earlier. The decline in output last month was a result of unscheduled short shutdown due to technical problems.

Thus, overall PC production increased to 54,200 tonnes over the first nine months of the year from 48,500 tonnes a year earlier.

The share of extrusion grades PC increased in the structure of production. PC grades for sheet extrusion accounted for 90% from the total production in January-September, which corresponds to the structure of consumption of the Russian market.

MRC

CHINAPLAS positioned to capture Asia enormous market potential

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China remains at the epicenter of the global plastics industry. Its domestic plastics and rubber sectors continue to experience stable growth, while benefiting from government support and from its location in the heart of Asia, said Worldpressonline.

Across the region, which already represents a significant percentage of the world’s GDP, a strong middle class is emerging, along with a huge appetite for consumer goods, vehicles, housing and the like. This positions the annual CHINAPLAS trade fair as the perfect platform for showcasing all that the polymer industries have to offer.
China's plastics industry has expanded tremendously in the past three decades. It even experienced steady growth during the past five years, while China's annual economic growth rate slowed to a 25-year low of 6.9% in 2015. In this "new normal", China’s economy is projected to grow at an even slower rate in the coming years. But the country’s economy remains massive, and some enterprises now see this as the right time for them to focus on enhancing productivity, efficiency and competitive advantages.

On October 20 in Dusseldorf, Germany, at the K 2016 trade fair, Mr. Stanley Chu, Chairman of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., organizer of CHINAPLAS, will deliver a forward-looking presentation titled “China’s Plastics Industry Development in the Coming Five Years” at the KI Group Polymer Summit. "China is now the No. 1 producer and consumer of plastic resins in the world," according to Mr. Chu. "Its continued expansion is riding not only on the general GDP growth, but on the fact that plastics, as an advanced material, is widely used and increasing its penetration into the automotive, electrical and electronics, packaging, building, and medical industries, as well as into many other hi-tech sectorsin China. This provides a favorable platform not only for further development of the plastics industry, but also for growing the scale of CHINAPLAS."

CHINAPLAS 2017, to be held next May in Guangzhou, in southern China, is expected to set a record in terms of its scale, reaching 250,000sqm of exhibition area.

Moreover, with years of development, China's plastics machinery suppliers have also geared up. In terms of volume, China has been the largest plastics machinery manufacturing country in the world for more than 10 consecutive years. Some of the country’s top brands are now actively building up their overseas plants and networks to support aggressive export drives. Chinese-made machines are very popular throughout Asia. In 2015, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, South Korea and Malaysia were among the top 10 export markets for China’s plastics machines.
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