GRASS and SIBUR sign cooperation agreement in circular economy

At the RUPLASTICA exhibition, the leading Russian manufacturer of car chemicals, household chemicals and cosmetics GRASS and the petrochemical company SIBUR signed a Cooperation Agreement in the field of closed-loop economy development, said the company.

The parties' joint environmental initiatives are aimed at involving recycled plastic in packaging production and promoting separate waste collection practices. Thus, GRASS is switching to eco-packaging made of Vivilen granules with the addition of up to 25% recycled plastic for its products — from SIBUR.

For the first time on the Russian market, the manufacturer is using a packaging solution made of recycled polyolefins — Vivilen rPE granules with the inclusion of secondary polyethylene. It is also planned that GRASS products will appear on store shelves in PET packaging made of Vivilen rPET granules, with used plastic bottles being the secondary raw material for their production.

GRASS and SIBUR have agreed to develop projects for separate waste collection: four eco-stations for collecting secondary raw materials are planned to be installed in the retail outlets of a large retailer. The collected waste will be sent for recycling, while the used plastic packaging will become raw material for the production of new Vivilen granules, which can again be used to produce eco-packaging for GRASS products. The initiative is intended to become a comprehensive project demonstrating the key principles of a closed-loop economy.

Alexander Petrov, Member of the Management Board – Executive Director, SIBUR:
“It is valuable for us that together with our partners from GRASS we are strengthening the trend towards reasonable consumption, namely, increasing the share of plastic waste that is returned to the production cycle again and again and becomes raw material for high-quality packaging. Over 2.4 billion used plastic bottles have already been recycled for the production of Vivilen PET granules alone - this is a significant contribution to the development of a closed-loop economy in our country. More and more everyday products made using recycled polymers are appearing on store shelves. Thanks to the scaling of recycling technologies, a new reality is being formed, where plastic waste is an important material resource."

We remind, Sibur's investments in 2024 exceeded planned values ??and reached Rb440 billion.

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Grupa Azoty and Orlen have agreed to continue to work on the terms of a potential transaction whereby Orlen – or another entity designated by Orlen – would acquire all or a portion of the shares currently held by Grupa Azoty in Grupa Azoty Polyolefins or otherwise execute the investment, as per Chemanager-online.

The companies said that negotiations on the terms of the deal, as well as an analysis of the potential transaction including due diligence, are scheduled to be finalized by Mar. 31, 2025.

“Since December, based on the signed cooperation agreement and the earlier letter of intent, we have been working intensively on potential solutions for the future of Grupa Azoty Polyolefins. As a result, we can now unequivocally confirm our chosen direction, which is to sell all or part of Polyolefins’ shares held by Grupa Azoty. At this stage, we will begin due diligence and seek to negotiate the terms of a potential transaction,” said Adam Leszkiewicz, president of Grupa Azoty’s management board.

“At Grupa Azoty, we believe that this collaboration can bring mutual benefits. From our perspective, a potential transaction is one of the key elements of our ongoing Recovery Program, under which we are developing a new business model for the group,” Leszkiewicz added.

In September 2024, Orlen and Grupa Azoty announced their talks about a strategic analysis of potential transactions in the polymers segment.

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Rani Plast has acquired the Lithuanian packaging film manufacturer UAB Umaras, said the company.

The two successful family-owned companies have joined forces to offer their customers a wider product range and better meet their needs. The acquisition also strengthens the companies’ market positions in a geographical sense.

Umaras, located in Utena, Lithuania, produces industrial packaging film, has 215 employees, and an annual turnover of around €40 million. Approximately half of its annual production is sold within the Baltic states, and the remainder in other export markets. Following the completion of the deal, Rani Plast’s sales director, Dennis Granqvist, will succeed Umaras’ former owner Milda Samsonaite as CEO.

Stefan Kaptens, CEO at Rani Plast, describes the deal as an excellent way to expand the business and create new global partnerships in line with the company’s long-term strategy.

We remind, Hard work has paid off for Rani Plast and Borealis, the companies behind RaniClear EcoL 80% PCR. The tissue wrapping film has been nominated by the organisers of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe as the best packaging product of 2024. The awards are organised by Plastics Recyclers Europe and the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRS Europe) to celebrate achievement in the European plastics recycling industry.


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The mining division of Rosatom (Moscow), the Russian state atomic corporation, has begun designing and plans to commission, in 2027, the facility at its Solikamsk Magnesium Plant (SMZ) that will provide rare earth metals, including neodymium and praseodymium, for Russia’s first permanent magnets production, Rosatom and SMZ said in a joint statement Jan. 24.

The new rare earth metals separator plant represents an investment of 7 billion rubles ($71.5 million) and will come online in 2027 mainly to provide input materials to produce up to 1,000 metric tons per year of neodymium-iron-boron and potentially cobalt-samarium-based magnets that Rusatom Metal Tech, another subsidiary of Rosatom, expects to achieve by 2028.

SMZ processes loparite concentrate into niobium, tantalum and titanium at Perm Krai, Russia. However, other valuable rare earth elements remain in the collective concentrate unextracted, while the project’s technology provides for further enrichment stages with more products added to the output.

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 specialty metals used in high-tech applications including smartphones, wind turbines, magnetic resonance imaging, hard disk drives, LEDs, electric motors and more. Electric motors and generators driven by rare earth permanent magnets represent the most energy-efficient devices developed so far.

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Styrene monomer prices trended downward in Asia on Thursday, as per Polymerupdate.

An industry source in Asia informed a Polymerupdate team member, Prices were assessed lower due to weaker crude values coupled with sluggish buying sentiments in the Asian market.

On Thursday, FOB Korea SM prices were assessed at the USD 1030-1040/mt levels, down USD (-20/mt) from Wednesday's assessed levels.

CFR China SM prices on Thursday were assessed at the USD 1040-1050/mt levels, a decline of USD (-20/mt) from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, upstream benzene prices on Thursday were assessed flat at the USD 900-910/mt FOB Korea levels.

We remind, on Wednesday, FOB Korea SM prices were assessed at the USD 1050-1060/mt levels, an increase of USD (+20/mt) from Tuesday's assessed levels. CFR China SM prices on Wednesday were assessed at the USD 1060-1070/mt levels, a day on day rise of USD (+20/mt).

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