AkzoNobel expands position in South and Central America by acquiring Grupo Orbis

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel is to further expand its long-term position in South and Central America after reaching an agreement to acquire Colombia-based paints and coatings company Grupo Orbis, as per the company's press release.

Completion is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected by end of this year, or in early 2022.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Present in ten countries in South America, Central America and the Antilles, Grupo Orbis has consolidated revenue of around COP USD1,200 billion (EUR260 million). The transaction includes the Pintuco paints and coatings business, Andercol and Poliquim (resins) and Mundial (distribution and services).

“This is an excellent intended acquisition which aligns perfectly with our Grow & Deliver strategy of creating leading global positions and driving growth in emerging markets,” explains AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker. “It will expand our long-term position across South America by establishing us as a frontrunner in the Andean region and in Central America, where several countries are high on the global growth rankings for the next decade.”

In addition to creating value from global and regional product and service innovation, the intended acquisition will enable AkzoNobel to better serve customers across more geographies, as well as accessing new markets.

Both companies also share a strong belief in the transformative power of color and a highly committed approach to sustainability. It’s therefore expected that joining AkzoNobel’s “Let’s Colour” program with the expertise of the Pintuco Foundation will provide fresh impetus for further improving the quality of life for people in local communities throughout the region.

The intended transaction follows on from a series of recent acquisitions by AkzoNobel across the paints and coatings industry over the last 18 months, which have included Titan Paints in Spain and New Nautical Coatings in the US.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in March 2021 by 5.4% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 6.7% in the first moths months of 2021.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is active in over 150 countries and employ around 33,000 people who deliver the high-performance products and services customers expect.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont is expanding its ion exchange resin production capacities, with a first phase of the expansion - at Chauny, north of Paris, France - already complete, said the company.

DuPont today announced the expansion of its ion exchange resin manufacturing production to address the high global demand for its pharmaceutical products such as excipients and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

DuPont Water Solutions is a leading producer of separation and filtration technologies, including reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration membranes, as well as ion exchange resins. While its technologies are critical to the purification of drinking water, many of those same technologies are critical to separations and concentrations across the life science industries to produce food, beverages, therapeutic drugs and diagnostics. Ion exchange resins also facilitate pharmaceutical formulations and advanced drug delivery when used as excipients or APIs.

To support their pharmaceutical customers’ growth and needs for cGMP qualified products, DuPont is expanding its ability to manufacture and supply these critical products. With the additions of a few key technologies to its production operations, these investments will enhance security of supply for improving present and future drug formulations.

The production expansion will be in phases. The first phase—to increase capacity of DuPont’s dedicated cGMP pharmaceutical production units in Chauny, France—is complete with qualifications underway. Future phases—which will focus on increased supply of highly demanded excipient and absorbent products—are expected in the coming years.

"When our customers select one of our products, they count on us to supply not just what they need today, but what they need for the lifetime of their products,” said Condylia Courtney, Global Product Line Manager for Ion Exchange Resins. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to growing with our customers and ensuring supply of their critical excipients."

Along with the production expansion, DuPont is also increasing regulatory resources. The expanded regulatory team will continue to work with technical experts to develop new applications, launch new products, and work to guarantee best product quality and performance across various markets.

It was erlier reported, DuPont is investing USD400 million in the production capacity of Tyvek nonwoven fabric made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) at its site in Luxembourg. A new building and a third work line at the production site will be constructed. The launch of new facilities is scheduled for 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall HDPE production totalled 653,500 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, up by 9% year on year. At the same time, only one Russian producer increased its HDPE output.

DuPont is a global innovation leader with technology-based materials and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life. Our employees apply diverse science and expertise to help customers advance their best ideas and deliver essential innovations in key markets including electronics, transportation, construction, water, healthcare and worker safety.
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1. Low demand for fuels to cap European crude refinery runs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A recovery in European jet fuel demand to pre-pandemic levels is years away, forcing regional refiners to continue blending the aviation fuel into diesel, and keeping a lid on their crude runs, consultancy FGE Energy said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing. FGE sees jet/kerosene demand in Europe at the end of 2022 reaching 75% of 2018-2019 levels only, meaning European refiners will continue to blend a large volume of jet into diesel to soak up the surplus. "Such blending tends to limit overall refinery crude throughput because maximum distillate hydrotreating capacity is reached at lower crude throughputs," FGE says.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures ticked lower during mid-morning trade in Asia June 29, extending the overnight downtrend, as the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus raised concerns over renewed mobility restrictions, reported S&P Global.

At 10:55 am Singapore time (0255 GMT), the ICE August Brent futures contract was down 34 cents/b (0.46%) from the previous close at USD74.34/b, while the NYMEX August light sweet crude contract was down 28 cents/b (0.38%) at USD72.63/b. This downtrend continues from overnight when front month Brent and NYMEX light sweet crude markers closed 1.97% and 1.54% lower at USD74.68/b and USD72.91/b, respectively.

Analysts said the market is pricing the possibility of tighter mobility restrictions after an increase in COVID-19 infections across much of Europe and Asia.

Despite its high vaccination rate, the UK has seen a surge in COVID-19 infections since January, reporting 22,868 COVID-19 infections on June 28, the highest since late January. This uptrend has been driven by the more transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.

"Every time we see a rise in COVID-19 cases, the first thing that comes to traders' minds is that governments may rush to renew lockdown restrictions and tighten border controls, decimating oil demand. This is reflected in the prices we are currently seeing," David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets told S&P Global June 29.

To Lennox's point, Hong Kong, Spain and Portugal, among other countries, have moved to place new restrictions on travelers from the UK. Furthermore, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on June 28, proposed a total ban on UK arrivals across the EU, but Merkel's plans have yet to gain traction.

Analysts said the elevated numbers in the UK have led to fears that other countries, where vaccination has thus far driven down infection rates, may also succumb to the delta variant of the virus.

The spread of the delta variant of the virus was cited by analysts as one of the reasons why the OPEC+ coalition will take a cautious approach to rolling back its production quotas. The producer group has met with several calls to raise oil production to prevent a supply shortfall, and to ensure affordable energy prices that are conducive to a global economic recovery.

OPEC+ is currently holding crude production at 6.2 million b/d below October 2018 levels and intends to taper this output cut to 5.76 million b/d in July.

We remind that as MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nan Ya Plastics, Formosa's sister company, intends to resume production at the new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant in Point Comfort, Texas, USA, in the near future, reported S&P Global with reference to sources familiar with Nan Ya's operations.

The company shut its 800,000 mt/year MEG plant at the Point Comfort site when Formosa shut the cracker, the largest of three at the complex, on a lack of sufficient ethylene feedstock.

At the same time, Nan Ya's smaller 370,000 mt/year MEG unit at Point Comfort had already been shut for a lengthy turnaround, but the Formosa cracker shutdown delayed its restart as well.

The MEG plants were slated to resume operations once Formosa ramps up the cracker, a source said.

A second source said that while there was not a huge amount of merchant ethylene available, there is enough that Formosa could have supplied the MEG plants with feedstock during the outage, had they been so inclined.

Nan Ya did not respond to a request for comment.

As MRC informed earlier, the mew MEG plant's start-up was push back to early 2021 from H1 2020 on coronavirus pandemic-related concerns to ensure worker safety and social distancing.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption grew to 263,660 tonnes in the first four months in 2021, up by 13% year of year. Bottle grade PET accounted for 78.3% of the increase in consumption due to the virtual absence of exports and higher imports.
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