New CEO for Chroma Color Corp.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty colourant supplier Chroma Color Corp. has appointed Shruti Singhal as its new CEO and member of the company board of directors, said Canplastics.

Singhal replaces outgoing Chroma CEO Tom Bolger, who served in the position for the past 16 years. "We have been fortunate to have Tom Bolger’s leadership throughout our investment which has seen the company deliver record breaking growth, the completion of seven acquisitions and the integration of those businesses which has expanded Chroma’s footprint and broadened offerings to our customers,” Chroma board chairman George Abd said. “While we will miss Tom’s leadership day to day, he will continue to work with Shruti and the company as we move forward."

Singhal has worked in North America and Europe, and has held positions of increasing management and executive responsibility with multinational companies including Henkel, Cognis (now BASF), Rohm & Haas, The Dow Chemical Co., Ashland, Solenis, and General Cable. Prior to joining Chroma, he most recently served as president for the DSM’s engineering materials business. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Drexel University, a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, and also completed the Global Marketing Management Program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

As per MRC, in a move to expand its product offerings, specialty colour and additive concentrate supplier Chroma Color Corp. has acquired Polymer Concentrates Inc. (PCI) of Clinton, Mass. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. PCI develops and manufactures colour concentrates for the international plastics industry.

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.

Headquartered in McHenry, Ill., Chroma makes colour concentrates based on a variety of resins for several markets. The firm employs about 400 and has annual sales of more than US$160 million. In mid-2018, investment firm Arsenal Capital Partners combined Chroma with materials firms Carolina Color, Breen Color Concentrates, and Breen’s Hudson Color unit – which were all owned by Arsenal – to create the current Chromo firm.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Protective packaging maker Pregis LLC is making a USD80 million investment in a new, state-of-the-art blown film extrusion facility in Anderson, S.C., said Canplasrics.

In a July 19 news release, the Deerfield, Ill.-based company says the 168,000 square foot facility will feature multiple newly-installed lines will be producing the latest engineered films that be used downstream to manufacture performance-oriented, packaging solutions for food, CPG and medical device applications. The plant will also include a world-class film laboratory to develop and test materials, the company said.

“We believe that this new facility will be the most technologically-advanced extrusion facility in North America,” said Pregis president and CEO Kevin Baudhuin.

In keeping with Pregis’ previously announced 2K30 environmental goals, the Anderson facility will also feature the latest in energy-efficiency in manufacturing and other plant functions, Pregis said. “[The] objective is to run in the most sustainable manner possible, so that it improves its carbon footprint, reduces environmental impact, while making significant, positive contributions to people and society," the news release said.

The facility will create 120 new jobs for workers in the Greenville area and is expected to be operational in September.

As per MRC, French waste management and recycling major Paprec is planning to build a new mixed-plastic waste sorting facility in Chalon-Sur-Saone. Construction will start in the next few months for completion at the end of 2021. The facility will sort mixed-coloured waste by material and colour and is expected to have a capacity of approximately 30,000 tonnes/year.

According to the ScanPlast survey of MRC, PP supplies to the Russian market in January-May this year amounted to 607,890 tonnes, which is 33% more than the same indicator a year earlier. The supply of propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) and propylene block copolymer (PP-block) also increased. The supply of stat-copolymer propylene (PP-random) has declined.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Turkey has imposed an import ban on ethylene polymer plastic waste as environmental groups sound the alarm on the world’s plastic consumption and lack of effective recycling, said Apnews.

In an amendment published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on Tuesday, the Trade Ministry added ethylene polymer plastics to its list of waste materials that are illegal to import. The ban will take effect in 45 days. The environmental group Greenpeace Mediterranean welcomed the news, calling it a “very important step towards the goal of zero waste importation” as set out by Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. The group said 74% of the plastic waste imported by Turkey last year will now be on the banned list.

In a visual investigation published this week, Greenpeace said plastic waste like shopping bags and packaging from the U.K. and Germany were being dumped and burned in southern Turkey. “Around 241 truckloads of plastic waste come to Turkey every day from across Europe and it overwhelms us. As far as we can see from the data and the field, we continue to be Europe’s largest plastic waste dump,” said Nihan Temiz Atas, the biodiversity projects head of Greenpeace Mediterranean.

The environment minister, Murat Kurum, said 152 waste facilities were audited in southern Adana province after “undesirable images were revealed.” Twenty-nine of them shut down, 32 were fined and criminal complaints filed against businesses that were causing pollution. He said Wednesday monitoring would continue in all recycling processes.

Kurum added Turkey didn’t import garbage and added that the import of mixed plastic waste was outlawed in 2021. Companies importing recyclable plastics to process into raw materials for use in Turkey are required to hold an identification code that allows for monitoring. "Our goal is a national industry that can get a 100% of its raw materials from the domestic market and end imports of waste from the world and a very clean Turkey," he said.

The Turkish Plastics Industrialists’ Association criticized the ban, saying the ministry had not consulted with industry representatives. “The ban puts our country’s plastics sector into a deadlock,” the group’s President Selcuk Gulsun said, calling for the measure to be withdrawn. Polyethylene plastics are one of the most widely produced plastics in the world.

As it was written earlier, German Bundestag has decided that supermarkets will no longer offer plastic bags to customers from 2022. The German government has prepared a corresponding bill in November last year.

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 density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - TD West-Vostok (Vidnoye, Moscow Region) will receive over 90 million rubles in financing to expand production, according to a press release from the SME Corporation, said the company.

The total cost of the equipment modernization project is estimated at 173 million rubles. Modern equipment will allow the company to increase the volume of labels production by almost 2 times, increase production efficiency by reducing the volume of technological waste, increasing the quality and speed of production. The equipment modernization project will create more than 20 new jobs.

As part of the leasing transaction, the SME Corporation (VEB Group), with the support of the Regional Leasing Company of the Yaroslavl Region and the Regional Leasing Company of the Republic of Bashkortostan (subsidiaries of the forms.

The first batch of equipment has already been delivered and put into operation. The second batch will arrive at the enterprise in the fall of 2021 and includes four more pieces of equipment, three of which are equipment for automatic washing of parts, shafts and molds.

It is noted that the introduction of modern washing equipment will increase the life of parts by more than 25% and reduce costs through the introduction of environmentally friendly technology of a closed production cycle and the use of environmentally friendly cleaning fluids.

The SME Corporation provides preferential leasing support through a network of subsidiary regional leasing companies (RLC). Small business representatives or individual entrepreneurs from any region of the country can apply to one of four RLCs (in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Yaroslavl Region, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and receive financing up to 50 million rubles for up to 7 years. The preferential rate for leasing domestic equipment is 6% per annum, for foreign - 8%.

Earlier it was reported that Danaflex (Tatarstan) launched the production of IML labels for food and non-food products. IML (In Mold Labeling) is a polymer film-based label that is fused in a mold; the technology is the most progressive method for decorating rigid polymer packaging.

According to the ScanPlast survey of MRC, the estimated consumption of PE in Russia amounted to 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which actually corresponds to the indicator for the same period a year earlier. The supply of low-density polyethylene (HDPE) decreased.

TD West-Vostok has been operating on the market since 2007 and is engaged in the production of self-adhesive labels and flexible packaging. Working in niche segments and working with a wide pool of clients allowed the company to increase production by more than 50% in 2020. The company's revenue last year amounted to about 400 million rubles, which is 74% higher than in 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Africa's largest crude oil refinery - SAPREF, a 50/50 joint venture between BP and Shell, will begin restarting, after temporarily shutting down as a wave of violent looting swept across the country, reported Reuters with reference to the operators statement.

The refinery, situated in the east coast port city of Durban, shut down last week due to violence that claimed more than 200 lives and caused billions of rands worth of damage.

SAPREF has a nameplate capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and accounts for around 35% of the refining capacity in Africa's most industrialised economy, a net importer of petroleum products.

The refinery restart will take between 7-10 days to be completed, the operators said.

As MRC informed previously, in April 2021, SAPREF let a contract to KBR Inc. to provide technology for an upgrade of the 33,000-b/d FCC unit at its 180,000-b/d refinery in Durban, South Africa. As part of the contract, KBR will license its Catalyst Regeneration technology as well as deliver basic engineering, detailed engineering, and proprietary equipment for the FCC regenerator project, which will enable SAPREF to improve the unit’s reliability and integrity by optimizing catalyst and air distribution.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
MRC