Lanxess to acquire French biocide manufacturer

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess says it has acquired Intace SAS (Paris, France), a biocide manufacturer that makes specialty fungicides for the packaging industry, according to Chemweek.

The companies signed an agreement yesterday and the transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, Lanxess says. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

“With the acquisition of Intace, we are strengthening our biocide technology platform for packaging and labels in the consumer goods industry. We are also following a trend: plastics are more and more being replaced by paper in packaging,” says Nicolas Gallacier, head/marketing industrial reservation & coatings at Lanxess material protection products.

Intace’s products are used in paper, paperboard, soap packaging, labels, and bank notes, with the company generating sales in the mid-single-digit million euro range in 2020, Lanxess says.

As MRC informed before, in January, 2021, Lanxess completed the sale of its membrane business to French resource management firm SUEZ. The deal was previously announced in July, 2020, as Lanxess realigned its water treatment technologies segment, resulting in the sale of its reverse osmosis membrane business.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Delek US has issued a statement regarding the fire over the weekend at their El Dorado refinery, reported local media outlet Myarklamiss.

According to Delek US, the fire at the Penex unit occurred on Saturday, February 27. An on-site emergency response team along with the El Dorado Fire Department were able to extinguish the fire.

The air quality was monitored following the fire and Delek US says they have not detected any adverse impacts.

Six employees were receiving medical treatment on Saturday evening in relation to the fire.

Delek US also says a full investigation will be launched to determine what caused the fire.

As MRC informed earlier, a liquid catalytic cracking unit at Delek's refinery in Tyler, Texas, USA, suffered a technological failure on April 13, 2019. The technological glitch at this unit with a capacity of 40,000 mt/year of propylene occurred due to a thunderstorm, which led to a power outage.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A shortage of polypropylene (PP) intensified in the global markets in February, prices have reached record levels for the past few years. A similar situation was also registered in the Russian market, PP prices reached record highs, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

In the previous years, PP became cheaper in the Russian market in January-February under the pressure on weak demand and oversupply. This year's situation change dramatically. High prices in foreign markets put a major pressure on prices in Russia. The rise in prices of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) began in January, but the dynamics of price growth intensified in February. Prices have increased by more than 17% since the beginning of the year.

The shortage of PP in the global markets was exacerbated in the second half of February by unplanned shutdowns of several producers in the United States due to frosts. The shortage of PP in Europe pushed prices up by 15% in February, whereas in Turkey prices of homopolymer PP raffia exceeded USD1,800/tonne CFR last week.

Such a rapid rise in PP prices in a number of the world's regions since the beginning of the year also pushed the largest producers to constantly raise prices in the Russian market. Russian producers' export prices for a number of destinations have been higher than domestic ones for a long time.

Imports of cheap PP from Turkmenistan decreased, and prices grew to USD1,515/tonne FCA/FOB in the last export trades, whereas export prices averaged USD1,050/tonne FCA/FOB in early December.

Supply of PP was tight in the Russian market in February, some converters could not fully meet their needs in polymer even amid record high prices. The situation with the polymer availability is unlikely to improve in March.

Some sellers' spot offers for homopolymer PP raffia had exceeded Rb130,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, by late February, whereas prices of this PP grade did not exceed Rb104,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, back in early January.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has hiked its European selling prices for 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and its derivatives with immediate effect or as contracts allow, reported Chemweek.

No reasons for the increase were given.

The price of BDO has been increased by EUR800/metric ton (USD963/metric ton), along with the derivatives n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and n-ethylpyrrolidone. The prices for tetrahydrofuran and polytetramethylene ether glycol have each risen by EUR1,050/metric ton.

BDO and its derivatives are used for producing engineering plastics, polyurethanes, solvents, and elastic spandex fibers. BASF operates a 190,000-metric tons/year BDO plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany, and a 156,000-metric tons/year plant at Geismar, Louisiana, according to IHS Markit data.

BASF announced in November last year its 60/40 joint venture with Petronas Chemicals Group, BASF Petronas Chemicals, would close its 100,000-metric tons/year BDO plant at Kuantan, Malaysia, in March 2021 due to BDO overcapacity in the region. It also closed its 25,000-metric tons/year BASF Idemitsu Co. JV plant at Chiba, Japan, in December last year, again citing the region’s overcapacity and a declining BDO market in Japan.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other’s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Designed for use by thermoformers, Milliken & Company’s Chemical Division’s latest high-performance additive for polypropylene (PP) homopolymers delivers an excellent balance of physical properties and superb aesthetics - all enabled through cleaner chemistry, as per the company's press release.

Hyperform HPN 909ei checks all those boxes, and more, as this formulation also addresses an important aspect for safety reassurance in the European Union. Tailored specifically to minimize migration, especially in food-contact applications, this new grade of Hyperform has one Specific Migration Limit (SML) less than the previous generation product. A lower number of SMLs means there is one less substance that must be monitored and tested for, reducing customers’ compliance burden. With this simplification, the reassurance of safety is even stronger. This is vital, given that this type of PP homopolymer is typically used to thermoform drink cups and lids, food packaging, and trays.

Traditional nucleating agents require customers to sacrifice impact to gain greater stiffness. Hyperform HPN 909ei, however, delivers improved stiffness (flexural modulus) while maintaining the impact performance. It also provides isotropic shrinkage (similar shrinkage in both directions, thereby reducing warpage) and a higher heat-deflection temperature, which offers improved heat resistance vital for hot-fill and microwaveable applications. It also helps to override the nucleation effects of pigments, thereby reducing design complexity.

Hyperform HPN 909ei achieves all this without sacrificing aesthetics. “In fact,” notes Bhavesh Gandhi, global product line manager for Milliken’s Chemical Division, “it yields products with excellent optical properties, including lower haze, reduced yellowing and an overall cleaner look. This can further enhance sustainability,” he says, “by allowing end users to replace other resins in various applications with highly recyclable PP, with its low overall carbon footprint.”

With its growing range of Hyperform HPN high-performance additives, Milliken continues to help converters improve their processing and enhance the performance of their final PP parts.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2020, Milliken (Spartanburg, North Carolina) said it had joined the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition (PRC), an industry collaboration launched in July by The Recycling Partnership (TRP) aimed at improving recovery and recycling of PP in the US.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Milliken is an innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives since 1865. The company creates coatings, specialty chemicals, and advanced additive and colorant technologies that transform the way we experience products from automotive plastics to children's art supplies.
MRC