Evonik appointed ADCO as new distributor in CIS region

The Oil Additives business line of Evonik has restructured its distribution setup for its products in CIS countries, announcing ADCO as its new distribution partner, said the company.

The lubricant additives business develops formulation solutions and base oil technologies that improve fuel economy and flow efficiency of automotive lubricants for passenger cars and commercial vehicles and increase energy efficiency and productivity of industrial lubricants for construction, mining, agricultural, and manufacturing equipment.

"We are happy to announce the deepening of our partnership with our long-term partner ADCO, which is already partnering us in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria for over 40 years. I am certain that the excellent experiences made with ADCO’s customer focus, and broad supply network in other countries will contribute to the success of the Oil Additives business line in CIS region too” said Dominik Bohm, Customer relations director EMEA Evonik Oil Additives.

ADCO has officially taken over distribution of Evonik Oil Additives in July 2022. The portfolio contains VISCOPLEX and VISCOBASE viscosity index improver, pour point depressants and synthetic base oils.

We remind, Evonik can better serve all global customers and improve its supply position. Increasing the manufacturing capacity for TEGOSOFT MM MB with a second site also enables Evonik to better cater to the increasing market demand for enzymatic-produced emollient esters in the Asia Pacificsaid the company. This development underlines Evonik’s consistent commitment to enhance the availability of products according to RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) mass balance supply chain, a crucial step to the path of achieving its sustainability vision.
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Showa Denko (SDK) announces that, taking the Company's recent performance into account, it revises its forecast of consolidated business results for the first half of the year ending on December 31, 2022 and that for the full year ending on December 31, 2022, both of which were announced on February 13, 2022, said Bloomberg.

In the first half of 2022, Semiconductor and Electronic Materials segment showed good performance. Net sales in that period are expected to be in slight excess of the previous forecast, which was announced on February 14, 2022, due partly to a weak yen and a rise in prices of products, despite a decrease in sales volumes. Operating income is expected to exceed the previous forecast by about 7.7 billion yen due partly to a weak yen and a rise in prices of products, despite a rise in prices of raw materials, a rise in the cost of energy including electricity rates, and a rise in the cost of transportation.

Ordinary income is expected to exceed the previous forecast by about 19.3 billion yen due partly to the recording of valuation profit concerning the Group's assets booked in foreign currencies caused by rapid depreciation of
yen, and an improvement in the balance of financial account. Net income attributable to owners of the parent is also expected to exceed the previous forecast by about 25 billion yen due partly to the increase in ordinary income,
and change in the period to record an extraordinary loss which is expected to be accrued as the cost of structural reform from the first half of 2022 into the second half of 2022.

With regard to the Company's full-year performance forecast for 2022, net sales are expected to exceed the previous forecast due partly to a weak yen and a rise in prices of products. However, we leave the forecast of operating income for 2022 as it is in the previous forecast, which we announced on February 14, 2022, due partly to a rise in prices of raw materials, a rise in the cost of energy, and a rise in the cost of transportation. We expect that ordinary income for 2022 will exceed the previous forecast due partly to our recording of valuation profit concerning the Group's assets booked in foreign currencies and an improvement in the balance of financial account. Net income attributable to owners of the parent is also expected to exceed the previous forecast.

Performance forecast and other statements pertaining to the future as contained in this document are based on the information available as of today and assumptions as of today regarding risk factors that could affect our future
performance. Actual results may differ materially from the forecast due to a variety of risk factors, including, but not limited to, the influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the world economy, the international
situation, costs of naphtha and other raw materials, demand or market conditions for our products such as graphite electrodes and other commodities, and foreign exchange rates. We undertake no obligation to update the forward-
looking statements unless required by law.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2018, Showa Denko shut its crackert in Oita (Japan) for a scheduled maintenance. The turnaround at this cracker with the capacity of 691,000 mt/year of ethylene lasted until April 19, 2018.

Showa Denko K.K. is a major manufacturer of chemical products serving from heavy industry to computers and electronics. The Petrochemicals Sector provides cracker products such as ethylene and propylene, the Chemicals Sector provides industrial, high-performance and high-purity gases and chemicals for semicon and other industries, the Inorganics Sector provides ceramic products, such as alumina, abrasives, refractory/graphite electrodes and fine carbon products.
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American chemical company DuPont de Nemours Inc. sharply increased net income in the second quarter of this year and increased revenue by 7%, but its forecast for the third quarter disappointed investors, said the company.

DuPont's net income in April-June 2022 was USD787 million, or USD1.55 per share, compared to USD478 million, or $0.90 per share, for the same period last year. Earnings excluding one-off factors were USD0.88 per share. DuPont's revenue last quarter increased to USD3.32 billion from USD3.1 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet had, on average, expected adjusted earnings of USD0.75 per share on revenue of USD3.26 billion. The company expects its third-quarter revenue to be slightly lower than its second-quarter due to the negative impact of currency fluctuations and unplanned plant downtime in Virginia. The consensus forecast of analysts is USD3.39 billion, which provides for revenue growth of 2.1% compared to the second quarter.

DuPont also narrowed its adjusted earnings per share forecast for the full year as a whole to USD3.27-3.43 from USD3.2-3.5. DuPont's capitalization has fallen by a quarter since the beginning of 2022, to USD31.1 billion, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has lost 13.6% over this period.

As per MRC, DuPont announced completion of the previously-announced sale of its Biomaterials business unit, effective May 31, 2022, to the Huafon Group for a purchase price of approximately USD240 mln, said the company.
The results of operations of the Biomaterials business unit were previously reported in Corporate & Other. For full year 2021, the Biomaterials business unit recorded net sales of approximately USD200 million.
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INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has announced today the introduction of an all-new product portfolio dedicated to polymer modification. The new product lines are addressing the need of compounders and extruders to enhance the properties of polymers and allow for improved processing. Smaller volumes of the new products are available via focused and very experienced distribution partners.

INEOS Styrolution’s new modifier line is the result of intensive testing with a range of customers and partners over the past years. The result is a thorough set of new powder grades that not only modify selected product properties to allow for new application designs. Certain modifiers also allow for improved processing resulting for example in working at lower temperatures and with a lower energy consumption.

Modifications range from enhanced stiffness to superior long-term performance with heat exposure, better color fastness and retention, UV resistance, dimensional stability, impact resistance and more.

Agreements have been closed with specialised distribution partners Caldic B.V. and Bjorn Thorsen A/S to bring the new solutions to market also at lower volumes. Experts from INEOS Styrolution and its distribution partners have already started working with customers to identify the best modifier solution for a given challenge.

Dr. Alexander Gluck, President Europe at INEOS Styrolution, comments: “Over the years, INEOS Styrolution has developed an extensive know-how with modifiers. All that experience has now resulted in a product portfolio that I think is second to none. The positive response from customers and partners has been very encouraging. With growing demand we are prepared to expand the portfolio further. I am particularly looking forward to the first solutions based on our ECO line of sustainable products."

Dr. Eike Jahnke, Vice President Specialties EMEA, adds: “For many applications I expect our new modifiers to become a game changer. For example, one benefit of styrenics is its low density. Additional cost is compensated not only by the performance improvement, but also by the lower density of the modifiers in compounds or blends."

In 2021, INEOS completes the acquisition of BP’s global Aromatics & Acetyls business. INEOS Acetyls
The acquisition consists of 15 sites across the world (5 in the Americas, 2 in Europe and 8 in Asia) as well as 10 leading joint ventures.

We remind, INEOS and Sinopec signed three back-to-back deals worth a combined value of USD7bn.
These landmark agreements are expected to generate a combined turnover of around USD10bn from 7 million tonnes of capacity. The three agreements will significantly reshape Ineos’ petrochemicals production and technology in China.
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Construction on China National Petroleum Corporation's petrochemical refining and chemical integration transformation and upgrading project in the Qinzhou Port area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone started on July 28, said BBRTV.

The 30.5-billion-yuan (USD4.5-billion) project is a major project in China's petrochemical industry and one of Guangxi's 10 major industrial projects in 2022. Upon its operation in 2025, the project is estimated to generate a total annual output value of 30 billion yuan and 3 billion yuan in tax revenue.

It will have a production capacity of 2.76 million metric tons of basic chemical raw materials, such as ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. In addition, it will also explore high-added value products, such as high-end polyolefin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and dissolving polymer rubber.

Guangxi officials noted during the event that the project has marked a new step forward for Guangxi's petrochemical industry towards green and high-end development. It will also help fill a gap in Guangxi's high-end new chemical materials industry, meet the market demands of regions alongside the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, as well as build a 1-trillion-yuan level petrochemical industrial cluster facing ASEAN.

The petrochemical industry in Qinzhou has been developing rapidly from the basic chemical industry to the high-end new materials industry, with the settling of batches of projects worth over 10 billion yuan each. An industrial pattern with four industrial clusters of olefin new materials, chemical fiber textiles, fine chemicals, and new energy materials has gradually taken shape in Qinzhou.

Statistics show that Qinzhou's petrochemical industry is expected to complete more than 200 billion yuan in investment by 2025, with an industrial output value of over 200 billion yuan, offering strong impetus for Qinzhou in building a national major petrochemical industrial base serving Southwest China and facing ASEAN.

We remind, PetroChina Urumqi Petrochemical is planning to revamp and upgrade its refining facilities by adding some new refining as well as petrochemical units. A 450,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP), a 300,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM), a 200,000 tonne/year polystyrene (PS), and a 1.2m tonne/year purified phthalate acid (PTA) unit will be installed as the petrochemical part. The refining part will mainly include a new 1.2m tonne/year solvent deasphalting (SDA), a 2.2m tonne/year fluid catalytic cracking (FCC), and a 1m tonne/year gas fractionation units.
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