Azelis to distribute Mane flavor and fragrance products in Benelux

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azelis says it has signed an exclusive distribution deal for Mane’s (Le Bar sur Loup, France) flavor and fragrance products in the Benelux region, including Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, reported Chemweek.

The deal is effective from January 2021.

“This new partnership will enable MANE to extend its presence to nearly full market coverage as well as seeing a number of its existing customers being serviced more efficiently by the dedicated Azelis teams,” says Renaud Milliard, flavor distribution director/EMEA at Mane.

Mane is family owned maker of flavor and fragrance products. The company has about 6,000 employees globally.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2020, Azelis opened a new application and training center in Istanbul, Turkey. This center will service the Turkish food, personal care and pharma markets and will offer product advice, formulation development and technical research. Next to that, it will host customer meetings, interactive formulation workshops, supplier meetings and internal technical trainings.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Equate’s Equipolymers (EQP) subsidiary has launched Viridis 30, a food-grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) manufactured with 30% chemically recycled PET as feedstock, accoridng to GV.

The Viridis grade was started in 2009, with the support of the Coca-Cola Co., when EQP launched Viridis 10, made with 10 % chemically recycled PET. Last January, it produced its first successful batch of Viridis 25, which uses up to 25% chemically recycled PET. Viridis 30 is expected to be commercially available to the European market from the first quarter of 2021.

“Viridis 30 is a significant achievement for EQP and for the petrochemical industry,” said Muayad Al Faresi, global business director for PET at EQP. “As global demand increases, the transformation of our industry is necessary to create new products that are more sustainable in the long term. The development of Viridis 30 is aligned with the EU’s (European Union) target to achieve 25 % rPET (recycled PET) in packaging by 2025, and 30 % by 2030. It highlights our commitment towards innovation – this is a breakthrough that will have far reaching environmental, social and business benefits.”

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 61,110 tonnes in November 2020, up by 1% year on year. Overall consumption of PET in Russia reached 648,110 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020, down by 18% year on year.

Equipolymers is a company dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of PET resins. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of MEGlobal.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s state run oil and gas explorer ONGC’s plan to merge its refining subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd ( MRPL ) with Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has got delayed, according to Kemicalinfo with reference to a report by IANS.

The process is now expected to be complete by 2024.

The merger was aimed at aligning ONGC’s upstream and downstream operations into two verticals. But ONGC has decided to consolidate its refining and petrochemicals business around MRPL first before going for the merger.

According to IANS, the process of merging the two oil refining subsidiaries would start only after the company completes merging ONGC Mangalore Petrochemical Ltd (OMPL) with MRPL.

Company sources said that the merger of HPCL and MRPL under conservative assumptions could happen by end of 2024 as the MRPL-OMPL merger has to happen first and that the business should continue for five years with late 2019 as the effective date of their merger at the least.

The merger could begin within next two years as OMPL is likely to get merged with MRPL by then.

Last October, MRPL board approved the acquisition of 49% stake in OMPL making OMPL a 100% subsidiary of MRPL.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2015, MRPL initiated its downward integration by amalgamation with OMPL.

OMPL is the largest single stream unit in Asia producing 914 KTPA paraxylene and 283 KTPA Benzene.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 61,110 tonnes in November 2020, up by 1% year on year. Overall consumption of PET in Russia reached 648,110 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020, down by 18% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move designed to expand its distribution area, Italian compostable bioplastics supplier Novamont has acquired BioBag Group, a Norway-based supplier of low-impact solutions for waste collection and packaging, said Canplastics.

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Both companies have worked together for more than two decades, and Novamont expects the acquisition to increase its geographic reach to areas where it is less present.

BioBag has developed a growing eCommerce platform, which is an important market channel for their existing applications and for the expanded product range that will be derived from Novamont’s innovations and upstream integration.

“This agreement allows Novamont to expand its model of circular bioeconomy,” Novamont CEO Catia Bastioli said in a Jan. 12 statement. “By joining our best skills and energies and fully integrating our supply chains we can better serve our partners upstream and downstream while further accelerating circular solutions for different market sectors and for communities pursuing our goal of producing more with less."

As MRC informed earlier, Mater-Bi, a company wholly controlled by the Novamont group, is a manufacturer of ORIGO–BI, biopolyesters with a high level of renewables, components of MATER-BI compostable bioplastics. The plant has been built to manufacture PET by reconversion of the former Mossi & Ghisolfi plant. The renovation included regeneration, modification and in some cases wholly renewal of its various sections to implement innovative technologies developed by Novamont in the form of a continuous process.

As per MRC's ScanPlast, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 61,110 tonnes in November 2020, up by 1% year on year. Overall PET consumption in Russia reached 648,110 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020, down by 18% year of year.

Headquartered in Novara, near Milan, Novamont has commercial offices in Germany, France, Spain, and the U.S., and operates through its own distributors in 40 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OQ Chemicals (Monheim am Rhein, Germany) is to increase the price of 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA) in the US, effective 1 February 2021 or as contracts allow, citing supply and demand, reported Chemweek.

The price of 2-EHA will rise by 5 cents per pound, it says.

The company announced price hikes in the Americas last week for neopentyl glycol and oxo intermediates, citing increasing raw material costs and strong demand, also to be implemented on 1 February.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2020, OQ Chemicals entered into an agreement to license its advanced proprietary technology for the production of ethylene and propylene derivatives to Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company (DRPIC) in Oman. DRPIC, a joint venture between Oman Oil Company and Kuwait International Oil Company, is a planned grassroots petrochemical complex at Duqm, Oman. In all, DRPIC awarded twelve license packages to international licensors.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

OQ Chemicals, formerly Oxea, is a global manufacturer of oxo intermediates and oxo derivatives, such as alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines. These products are used for the production of high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, flavours and fragrances, printing inks and plastics. OQ Chemicals is part of OQ, an integrated energy company that delivers sustainability and business excellence. OQ operates in 16 countries and covers the entire value chain from exploration and production to the marketing and distribution of its products.
MRC