Amcor to sell its three factories in Russia

Amcor announced that it will be selling its three factories in Russia, said Polymerupdate.

This announcement is in line with its statement in March regarding scaling down activities and exploring strategic options for its Russia operations. Until completion of the sale, which is currently expected to occur in the second half of its 2023 fiscal year, Amcor remain committed to supporting its employees and customers, while preserving value for shareholders through an orderly sale process.

The guidance Amcor provided for FY23 in its recent year-end results takes into account a number of potential outcomes regarding the sale of Amcor’s factories in Russia. Amcor’s quarterly and year-end financials for FY22 can be found here.

We remind, Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, announced an investment to establish new thermoforming capabilities for medical packaging in its Sligo, Ireland, healthcare packaging facility. The multi-million-dollar investment will strengthen Amcor’s leadership in the growing industry for sterile packaging, offering customers in Europe and North America another site with comprehensive healthcare solutions.

Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve supply chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly lighter weight, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content. In fiscal year 2022, 44,000 Amcor people generated USD15 billion in annual sales from operations that span 220 locations in 43 countries.
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Tatneft will produce helium and LNG, said Polymerupdate.

The company is reconstructing a cryogenic unit for deep processing of dry stripped gas to produce new products. The project documentation and the results of engineering surveys carried out on the territory of the Tatneftegazpererabotka Administration (UTNGP) received a positive conclusion from the State Ecological Expertise and the FAA Glavgosexpertiza of Russia.

The current capacity of the unit for dry stripped gas is 54,000 m?/h. In the course of the modernization, the productivity will be increased to 64 thousand m?/h, and a gaseous helium separation unit of brand "A" will be built in the amount of 504 thousand m?/year and the production of liquefied natural gas will begin to year.

The new modification of the cryogenic plant solves the problems of integrated use of raw materials, optimization of technological processes of gas processing and increasing the environmental friendliness of production. The technical solutions envisaged by the project will reduce the carbon footprint of the facility by 95 percent.

The cryogenic plant was put into operation in 2011 and is designed for deep processing of dry stripped gas in order to isolate the ethane fraction and remove nitrogen to increase the calorific value of the methane fraction before being fed into the Gazprom-transgaz Kazan main gas pipeline.

The general designer is OOO Institute for the Design of Oil Refining and Petrochemical Industry Enterprises. The planned date for completion of work and documentary commissioning of the facility is the fourth quarter of 2024.

We remind, Tatneft and Kazakh company KazMunayGas have signed an agreement for a new production site in the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan. The new facility will produce butadiene rubbers for use in tire manufacturing. The joint venture was signed by Nail Maganov, general director of Tatneft, and Alik Aidarbayev, management board chairman of KazMunayGas. Production will commence in 2026 at the SEZ National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark (Free Economic Zone). Approximately 2,000 jobs will be created at the site during the construction period, and more than 700 job positions at the point the facility goes into operation.
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Brenntag, the global market leader in chemicals and ingredients distribution, has become the exclusive distributor of Nouryon’s specialty polymers in the United State and Canada, said Polymerupdate.

As the sole distributor of Nouryon’s proprietary LumaTreat™ polymers, Brenntag can offer a portfolio including the patented LumaTreat™ smart-tagged polymers, Aquatreat™, Versaflex™, and Versa™ polymers which offer scale control and dispersancy.

These polymers prevent calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and other deposits that can produce scale deposits. “The addition of the LumaTreat™ polymers to our expanding portfolio gives our company another innovative tool to help solve scale and deposit issues in a multitude of industrial water treatment applications,” stated Brian Liotta, Director, Water Treatment, Brenntag Americas. “The ability to reduce treatment costs through accurate monitoring also provides opportunities for reduced water use and helps with overall sustainability goals."

The LumaTreat™ line of products are global patent smart-tagged polymers. They are fluorescent monomers that attach on a deposit control agent. The combination of the fluorescent monomer and deposit control polymer provide a Smart Tag that accurately measures the unused polymer in the water treatment system. This technology enables water treaters to measure the amount of available polymer while preventing scale deposit build-up that can cause system disruptions, such as hot spots, pH pump failure, or changing water conditions.

“Through our relationship with Brenntag, US and Canada water treatment customers will benefit from the combination of highly trained sales and technical teams, formulation support, comprehensive regulatory know-how, high-performance, and exceptional quality and service,” said Joppe Smit, Nouryon Vice President of Natural Resources.

As MRC reported earlier, last summer, Brenntag acquired all operating assets and business of Matrix Chemical, LLC. The company is a solvents distributor and the largest distributor of acetone in North America with sales of around USD 200 million year to date in 2021. Along with phenol, acetone is largely used to produce bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used in the production of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins.

BCD Chemie, a Brenntag Group company, is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It focuses on the pan-European marketing of industrial and performance chemicals. As a link between manufacturers of high-quality chemical raw materials and users from many industries, BCD Chemie provides B2B sales solutions for a wide range of industries and applications. Profound market knowledge, competent product and application consulting as well as comprehensive expertise in chemical-technical and market-analytical contexts form the basis of its philosophy of modern chemical distribution.
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Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew at a slower pace of 7 per cent year-on-year in July after the revised 8.5 per cent growth in June, expanding for the 20th straight month, said Channelnewsasia.

Both electronics and non-electronics exports increased, and exports to the top 10 markets as a whole rose, mainly due to the 27 European Union countries, Malaysia and Taiwan, according to official data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Wednesday (Aug 17).

However, NODX to China, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand declined. On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX increased at a slower pace of 1.4 per cent in July, following the previous month's revised 3.2 per cent growth. Both electronics and non-electronics grew.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the level of NODX reached SD17.8 billion in July, slightly higher than the previous month's adjusted SD17.6 billion, as well as levels a year ago. NODX rose over the year, mainly due to shipments of non-electronics. Electronics also grew. On a year-on-year basis, electronic NODX rose by 10.3 per cent in July, following the 4.1 per cent growth in the previous month.

Integrated circuits, parts of integrated circuits and disk drives rose by 18.5 per cent, 83.2 per cent and 110.2 per cent respectively, contributing the most to the growth in electronic NODX. Non-electronic NODX increased by 6.1 per cent in July on a year-on-year basis, following the revised 10 per cent rise the previous month. Specialised machinery, pharmaceuticals and structures of ships and boats contributed the most to the growth in non-electronic NODX.

As per MRC, the value of Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 6.4% year over year in April, slower than the 7.7% expansion in March, as exports of electronic products fell on a monthly basis. The pace of growth in April was almost in line with the market's consensus forecast, according to ING Bank economist Nicholas Mapa. The city-state's exports of electronic products rose 12.8% year over year in April, faster than the 11.5% expansion in March, driven by strong shipments of integrated circuits, IC parts and telecommunications equipment.
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North American chemical railcar traffic rose by 1.0% year on year to 46,133 loadings for the week ended 13 August, according to the latest freight rail data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Increases in Canada and Mexico more than offset an 0.2% decline in US shipments. The week before, North American chemical railcar traffic fell by 1.1%. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 46,706 railcar loadings, holding nearly unchanged week on week.

For the first 32 weeks of 2022 ended 13 August, North American chemical railcar traffic was up 2.2% year on year to 1,494,580 railcar loadings. In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and parts, and nonmetallic minerals rose for the first 32 weeks, while shipments in all other freight railcar categories fell.

We remind, North American chemical railcar traffic fell by 1.1% year on year to 45,842 loadings for the week ended 6 August. Increases in Canada and Mexico were more than offset by a 4.1% decline in US shipments. The week before, North American chemical railcar traffic rose 2.1%.
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