Wacker appoints Tobias Brandis as head of polysilicons

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dr. Tobias Brandis (45) is taking over as president of the WACKER POLYSILICON division effective January 1, 2017, said the producer on its site.

He succeeds Ewald Schindlbeck who, effective the same date, is retiring after 33 years at the company. Brandis was previously Chief Financial Officer of the Group’s US subsidiary Wacker Chemical Corporation.

WACKER POLYSILICON is a global leader in the production of hyperpure polysilicon. Its polysilicon - which is used in semiconductors and the growing photovoltaics sector - meets the extremely high quality standards required by customers in these application areas.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2013, Wacker Chemie AG officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), Thailand’s largest petrochemical producer, is likely to take its No.1 cracker off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the cracker is expected to be taken off-line in end-August 2017. The planned maintenance is likely to remain in force for around 2 or 3 weeks.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 460,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, PTTGC is in plan to shut its No. 3 cracker for a maintenance turnaround in March 2017. The planned maintenance is expected to remain in force for around 2 weeks. Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chemours Company (Chemours) announced a price increase on all Ti-Pure titanium dioxide grades sold in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa regions, said the company om its site.

Effective February 1, 2017 or as contracts and law allow, a net price increase of USD150 per tonne will apply for all Ti-Pure titanium dioxide grades sold in Latin America.

Effective February 1, 2017 or as contracts and law allow, a net price increase of USD150 per tonne will apply for all Ti-Pure titanium dioxide grades sold in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Effective February 1, 2017 or as contracts and law allow, a net price increase of Euro 175 per tonne will apply for all Ti-Pure titanium dioxide grades sold in Western and Central Europe, Turkey, and North Africa.

The Chemours Company helps create a colorful, capable and cleaner world through the power of chemistry. Chemours is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts and chemical solutions, providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has obtained clearance from the Brazilian antitrust authority, CADE, for the agreed sale of its 70.59% stake in Solvay Indupa to chemical group Unipar Carbocloro, said the company on its site.

Completion of the transaction, at a total enterprise value of USD 202.2 million as announced in May, is expected to take place in the next weeks. Solvay Indupa produces PVC and caustic soda in Brazil and Argentina.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2014, Argentina's stock regulator rejected as inadequate an offer from Brazil's Braskem, Latin America's largest petrochemical company, to buy the roughly 30% of the shares of plastic maker Solvay Indupa that are publicly traded. Solvay Indupa is the Argentine-Brazilian unit of Belgium's Solvay, which owns 70.59% of the company.

Created in 1948, PVC and caustic soda producer Solvay Indupa has 956 employees and two production sites in Brazil and Argentina. Indupa, with a manufacturing capacity of more than 500,000 tpa of PVC, runs facilities at Santo Andre, Brazil, and Bahia Blanca, Argentina.

Solvay, with a market share 27%, is the second largest PVC manufacturer in Europe, after Kerling with 29% of the market. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with about 30,900 employees spread across 53 countries. It generated pro forma net sales of EUR12.4 bn in 2015, with 90% made from activities where it ranks among the world’s top 3 players.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Total production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in Belarus decreased to 87,200 tonnes in the eleven months of the year, down 22% year on year, according to MRC DataScope Report.

According to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, November LDPE production by the local producer Polymir was about 5,700 tonnes against 5,900 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, Belarus' overall LDPE production totalled 87,200 tonnes in January-November 2016, compared to 111,500 tonnes a year earlier. The main reason for such a serious decline in production volumes was a fire at one of the ethylene lines, which led to a halving of the olefin production volumes.

As MRC informed earlier, an outbreak of gas-air mixture with flare combustion of exhaust products happened at the plant on 18 June 2016.
The fire damaged the technological equipment, resulting in a shutdown of PE production at the second line (annual capacity of 65,000 tonnes).
The exact dates of the outage have not been announced yet.

Plant Polymir ("Naftan") is the largest petrochemical company in Belarus, produces a wide range of chemical products, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. Technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), As well as the development of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The LDPE production's annual capacity is 130,000 tonnes.

MRC