LG to invest USD5.2 bln in production of chemicals and materials for electric vehicle batteries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s LG plans to invest USD5.2bn to start producing the chemicals and materials used in electric vehicle batteries, as the global industry leader urgently tries to cut its dependence on China, reported Financial Times.

The four-year investment by the world’s biggest EV battery maker comes as plans by countries and carmakers to pivot away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles are complicated by the industry’s heavy reliance on refineries and factories in China. The country is by far the planet’s largest processor of most of the minerals needed for battery production.

LG Chem, the parent of the conglomerate’s battery group LG Energy Solution, said on Wednesday it would diversify its production of important materials including those used in cathodes, anodes and separators.

“We will reinvent our company as the world’s largest battery material producer,” said Shin Hak-cheol, LG Chem’s chief executive.

South Korea is home to several of the world’s leading EV battery makers such as LG Energy Solution, as well as units of conglomerates SK and Samsung. LG Energy has battery production plants in China, Poland and the US, and in Korea. In March, the group announced a plan to invest USD4.5bn by 2025 to expand its battery production in the US. The company supplies automakers including Tesla, General Motors and Volkswagen.

The battery materials market is forecast to more than double to about Won100tn (USD87bn) by 2026 from Won39tn, LG said.

Analysts expect LG’s move to help reduce global dependence on China for the processing of battery materials. Korean companies have been wary of relying too much on one source since Japan imposed export controls on semiconductor components in 2019. Beijing in 2010 cut off exports of rare earth elements to Japan.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2018, LG Chem announced plans to spend USD2.4-billion to expand its naphtha cracking center (NCC) and polyolefin (PO) plant in Yeosu, South Korea. The new cracker will supply feedstock to new PO plants with the capacity of 800,000 t/y each.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals maker Covestro, (formerly Bayer MaterialScience), hiked its full-year earnings forecast on Monday, citing an improved business outlook for the second half of the yea, reported Reuters.

It now sees its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) coming to EUR2.7 billion to EUR3.1 billion (USD3.2-3.7 billion), up from a previous forecast for EUR2.2-2.7 billion on an improved margin outlook.

It stuck with a forecast for core volume growth of 10-15%, of which around 6 percentage points are related to its newly-acquired resins business.

The group is due to publish second-quarter financial results on Aug. 6.

As MRC informed previously, earlier this month, DSM completed the sale of the resins & functional materials businesses to Covestro for EUR1.6 billion (USD1.9 billion), including EUR1.4 billion in cash.

We remind that Covestro closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, up by 11% year on year (30,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc. With 2020 sales of EUR 10.7 billion, Covestro has 33 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporatio,, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of USD0.68 per share on its common stock, payable August 9, 2021, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of July 26, 2021.

As MRC informed previously, earlier this year, Celanese Corporation initiated a capital-efficient expansion of its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production unit at the company’s world-class chemical industrial park in Nanjing, China in a move to solidify its global VAM capabilities.

This expansion will support the continued growth of its global acetyls business and serve the needs of customers in the Asia region and globally, the company said in its statement.

According to MRC's DataScope report, April EVA imports to Russia rose by 35,63% year on year to 4,090 tonnes from 3,020 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation grew in January-April 2021 by 20,24% year on year to 14,990 tonnes (12,470 tonnes a year earlier).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2020 net sales of USD5.7 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq has picked China's state-run CNCEC to build an oil refinery at the port of Fao on the Gulf, reported Reuters with reference to the oil ministry's statement.

The refinery in Fao will have a 300,000 barrel-per-day capacity and will include a petrochemical plant, the ministry added in a statement.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2013, CNCEC won a tender for construction of a chemical complex on production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) on the basis of Navoiazot in Uzbekistan. In line with the project, CNCEC was to construct capacities for 100,000 tonnes of PVC, 64,000 tonnnes of caustic soda and 300 tonnes of methanol a year. The project was to be implemented within 31 months.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC totalled 515,900 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 1% year on year. At the same time, two producers reduced their output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's crude oil imports fell 3% from January to June versus a year earlier, in the first first-half contraction since 2013, as an import quota shortage, refinery maintenance and rising global prices curbed buying, reported Reuters.

Imports totalled 40.14 million tonnes last month, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday, equivalent to 9.77 million barrels per day (bpd).

That compared with 9.65 million bpd in May and a record 12.9 million bpd in June 2020, when refiners snapped up cheap oil to supply China's quick recovery from the pandemic.

For the first half of 2021, imports into the world's top crude oil importer totalled 260.66 million tonnes, or about 10.51 million bpd, 3% lower than a year earlier.

As the impact of COVID-19 locked down most of the world, China was the only major oil consumer to increase imports in 2020, accounting for a record 19.8% share of global crude imports for the year, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy showed. That strong appetite helped crude prices to rebound sharply last year from their April slump, but slowing purchases by China going forward may start to weigh on prices.

Bumper purchases led by independent refineries, known as teapots, had bolstered imports in the first quarter of 2021, pushing inbound shipments 9.5% above the same period of 2020. Imports fell nearly 13% in the second quarter, however, versus the first three months as inventories climbed and refining margins were squeezed by steadily rising global oil prices and a flood of imports of blending fuels, such as light cycle oil that slipped into the diesel pool.

As MRC informed earlier, more crude oil was being refined in China's refineries in April 2020 than in US refineries for the first month on record, and this trend continued for all remaining months in 2020 except for July and August. Thus, China processed more crude oil than the United States not only because of the unique effects of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions in 2020, but also because of differences in the longer-term structural refining trends between the two countries.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC