Formosa Plastics fined for chemicals spill

March 31 (prw) The Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan's leading petrochemical conglomerate, is facing fines of around GBP220,000 for polluting the groundwater at its Jenwu plant in Kaohsiung County.

Earlier this month the company had said that the contamination was under control, but subsequent tests revealed the presence carcinogens, including vinyl-chloride monomers and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, at rates in excess of official limits.

Environmental Protection Administration minister Stephen Shen said that any failure to clean up the chemical spill would result in a temporary closure of the facility and that the size of the fine will reflect Formosa Plastics' failure to act on the leak. The company only acknowledged the problem, which was first identified in 2006, after it became known to the administration, explained Shen.

Formosa Plastics blamed the leak on earthquakes, which cracked waste water tanks. These have been replaced by a steel collection system, said the company, which is offering free health checks to local residents.

MRC

MRC Reference

Formosa

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC-S - 3.0%;

PP - 0.4%.

Annual growth sales in Russia :
PVC - 79 % (over the last year) ;

PP - 272 % (over the last 3 years).

Supply by processing technologies:
profile extrusion

film extrusion

March 31 (prw) -- Polish injection moulder and packaging film producer ERG Capital Group is planning to expand its operations through a series of acquisitions over the next four years.

The old established firm, based in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland, is reported already to be in negotiations with two other chemical companies and is expected to reveal whether it intends to purchase either or both in a matter of weeks. The company has not identified its potential targets.

Located near the southern Polish city of Katowice, ERG manufactures a range of shrink and stretch packaging films, plastic bags and adhesive tapes, as well as injection moulded crates, buckets, bins and battery cases.

The plastics converter is already undertaking due diligence in another potential acquisition, that of the Research & Development Centre of the Oil Refining Industry in the industrial Polish city of Plock, ERG's president Maciej Blasiak is reported to have said.

ERG shareholders agreed on 5 March to authorise the company to increase its nominal capital to more than ┬3 million by 1 March 2013. The group also operates Bioerg, a biodegradable packaging business that produces compostable plastics material and bags which was set up in 2007.

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In spite of low demand on complete products, Russian companies continue to increase resin imports. In February supplies from China have increased almost in 3.5 times in comparing with January 2010. Big window shape producers continue to approve North-American PVC-S.

Import from USA formed in total 5800 tons in two months. At the same time in February Russian companies didn't bring the material by Oxyvinyls.

Import supplies of PVC-S from Europe have increased almost in three times (to 4300 tons) in comparing with the same period of last year to the end of two months in 2010. In February Russian companies have increased the purchase of BorsodChem resin almost in 4 times in comparing with last month and resumed usual supplies of material by Ineos ChlorVinyls (1900 tons).

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More information you can find in our DataScope report.

March 30 (Chemie.de) -- INEOS NOVA announced that prices for GPPS products will increase by +┬ 90 Euro per/tonne and for HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene) by +┬120 per/tonne in Europe, effective April 1st, 2010. The cost of raw materials for both products have risen sharply making the price increase necessary to restore margins back to a sustainable level.

According to the company, the expansion of the HIPS delta over GPPS is long overdue. The increased delta for HIPS is necessary to cover the substantial increases confirmed for Butadiene Rubber costs.

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MRC Reference

Ineos is a petrochemical group.
In Russia Ineos's interests are represented by Ineos Polyolefins and IneosChlorVinyls.

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC - 4.5%;

polyethylene - 1.9%
(HDPE - 2.8%, LDPE - 1.2%);
polypropylene - 1.4%
(PP-random - 22.1%, PP-impact - 2.0%);
polystyrene - 0.9%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
profile extrusion;
pipe extrusion;
film extrusion;
injection molding.

March 30 (ExxonMobil Chemical) -- ExxonMobil Chemical has expanded its portfolio of metallocene polyethylene (mPE) resins with the introduction of Enable mPE 35-05 grade resin for tough, stiff, high clarity films. Enable mPE 35-05 resin provides converters and end users with significant downgauging opportunities that can lead to more sustainable flexible film opportunities, while delivering outstanding processability across a wide range of applications and extrusion equipment.

Enable mPE 35-05 resin displays robust and straightforward processing on both linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) film line equipment, while exhibiting processing and shrink properties approaching LDPE, with the mechanical properties of higher alpha-olefin (HAO) resins of similar density. Enable mPE 35-05 resin delivers improved processing as a result of its lower melt temperature which promotes greater bubble stability with lower energy consumption, versus fractional melt index LLDPE. Long chain branching contributes to excellent shear thinning characteristics that can deliver higher extrusion rates.

"Introduced in 2008, Enable mPE resins help converters enhance their extrusion operations while providing excellent film performance. A single unique resin, Enable mPE delivers more stable operations, extends film line output, application versatility, and generates significant downgauging," said Dave McConville, Global Market Development Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. "Enable mPE 35-05 resin broadens our metallocene portfolio into the medium density product space, and opens up new opportunities for converters and end users."

MRC