Ineos injection to save EVC's bacon

December 21, 2000 - Ineos Capital is buying a controlling interest in troubled PVC producer EVC International. Through a subsidiary company it plans to buy newly issued shares worth Eur 75 million which, together with the shares it will acquire when it completes its purchase of ICI's Chlor-Chemicals, Klea and Crosfield businesses, will give it between 52·7 and 64·7 per cent of the voting share capital of EVC.
     This injection of equity is the result of EVC's current reappraisal of its financial position, and gives it cash which its current financial state prevents it raising elsewhere. This will buy time for the planned reorganisation of its activities, enabling it to cut its cost base. The additional purchasing power of Ineos will also give EVC a better bargaining position in future raw material contracts, particularly for ethylene.
     In 1998 and 1999 EVC lost a total of Eur 75 million and expects further losses for 2000. Its debts have risen year on year, and are expected to be around Eur 290 million by the end of this year.
     Ineos, not a high profile group in plastics until it bought ICI's acrylics business, is a major player in ethylene oxide, glycol, acrylics, chlor chemicals and speciality inorganics. It has manufacturing sites in most major countries with around 6,000 employees and a Eur 3 billion turnover.

Dow Emerges into the information age

December 21, 2000 - Dow Chemical is targetting the information technology equipment market with a dedicated range of materials which it is calling Emerge. Emerge products are being formulated from the company's existing range of engineering polymers to meet the specific requirements of products such as hand-held devices including mobile telephones and hand-held computers, and static equipment like computer monitors and printers.
     Three product groupings planned for introduction early next year are:

Bayer/Lyondell to go ahead with PU base materials plant

December 21, 2000 - The styrene monomer/propylene oxide plant near Rotterdam in the Netherlands mooted for joint operation by Bayer and Lyondell is to go ahead. The plant, which was in a go, no-go, go position through the purchase by Lyondell of ARCO Chemical will cost more than Eur 500 million and will come on stream in 2003. It will make 285,000 tonnes of propylene oxide annually and 640,000 tonnes of styrene. Bayer and Lyondell will each take half of the output.
     Bayer and Lyondell are close associates in PU production since Bayer bought Lyondell's polyol business last year and also bought into Lyondell's propylene oxide business to secure future supplies.

Reifenhäuser hangs on to business in pipe and profile

December 21, 2000 - When Reifenhäuser pulled out of the pipe and profile equipment business last year it kept a stake in this sector through its (then) recently set-up Extrusion Center, from which it was selling individual extruders, dies and other components to plastics processors and systems builders. In 16 months it has sold more than 100 extruders.
     Now Reifenhäuser has struck a deal with Rollepaal of the Netherlands, which builds pipe extrusion lines, to integrate Reifenhäuser-built components in its production.
     Reifenhäuser says this new agreement does not infringe its contract with Weber, to whom it sold its own pipe and profile business last year.

Promotions at Plascoat

December 21, 2000 - Plascoat Systems has appointed its market development manager Nico den Broader as international sales director. He continues to operate from Holland, and is backed up in the UK by the promotion of Dave Wiltshire, with the company for 28 years, to national sales manager.

More expensive GUR

December 21, 2000 - Ticona is increasing the European price of its GUR ultra high molecular weight polyethylene by 15 per cent on January 1.

Go-ahead for compounding merger

December 21, 2000 - The amalgamation of compounding equipment manufacturers Werner & Pfleiderer, Waeschle and Buss has taken another step towards independence. The merger has been approved by the antitrust authorities and the grouping has been given a name - Coperion Holding, operating from Konstanz in Germany. The target is for the company to become independent in 3 - 5 years, possibly by a public flotation.

MCP expands in prototyping materials

December 21, 2000 - MCP Equipment has increased its range of prototyping materials by becoming exclusive distributor for the Vantico (formerly Ciba) Ureol range of nine vacuum casting resins. MCP now offers nearly 30 vacuum casting resins for matching vacuum-cast replicas to end products.

PP: Solvay quits and Basell cuts back

December 19, 2000 - Against a background of polypropylene oversupply and falling prices Solvay announced today that it is quitting the business, while Basell is planning to slash production.
     Solvay's move out is through a portfolio exchange with BP: it is swapping its PP business for BP's engineering polymers business which includes materials such as Udel and Radel sulphone polymers, Amodel polyphthalamide, Xydar liquid crystal polymer, Torlon polyamide-imide and Kadel polyketone. The two companies are also to collaborate on HDPE production through a 50:50 joint venture in Europe and a 51:49 joint venture in the USA.
     Solvay's PP business turns over around Eur 500 million a year, and the company says that the consolidations in the industry have made it increasingly difficult to compete effectively.
     BP is currently the world's third largest producer of polypropylene with 2·3 million tonnes, while Solvay ranks twelfth with 780,000 tonnes. The roles are reversed in HDPE. Solvay has 1·5 million  tonnes capacity making it the fifth largest producer worldwide. BP has 700,00 tonnes of its own capacity and is involved in joint ventures which do not form part of this agreement. BP will continue to make LD and LLDPE.
     The deal has yet to face regulatory approval, but is expected to be complete by June 2001.
     Basell's PP cut back, also announced today, is through a temporary shut down of plants with 500,000 tonnes of annual capacity. The company says that the current excess capacity is causing unacceptable financial loss in its PP business, and it does not expect current conditions to change in the near future.
     The plants affected are Wesseling in Germany, where two Novolen gas phase lines will shut for 12 - 18 months; Carrington in the UK where the homopolymer line will start an indefinite shut down in January; and Bayport in the USA where a Spheripol homopolymer line will be switched to idle.
      The current glut in the PP market is described succinctly by The Plastics Exchange in its latest market update:
     'Polypropylene pricing continues to slip, with recent market prices down an additional $0·01/lb. With PP facing the same pressure from feedstock costs, margins have all but disappeared. There is just too much polymer available for the market to consume.
     'Historically, US polypropylene producers have had access to a large export market; however, increased foreign production is now competing with US polypropylene producers for this market. China continues to be the key to foreign demand. Polypropylene may continue to be used as an inexpensive substitute for LLDPE and HDPE; this may help clean up the PP market a bit. But 2001 is likely to be a difficult year for PP producers.'

Masterbatch price increase

December 19, 2000 - Cabot is increasing the prices of its pigment and additive masterbatches in Europe on January 15. Prices go up between 3 and 5 per cent.

Nylon compounder plans UK presence

December 19, 2000 - German specialist nylon compounder Frisetta Polymer is planning to set up a sales operation in the UK. From January 1 it will be trading from 16 St Margarets Close, Salisbury SP1 2RY under the direction of Chris Litherland, at various times managing director of Chris Litherland Sales and general manager of Gosewehr UK.

Formaldehyde resin expansion

December 19, 2000 - Atofina is to expand production of formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde resins at its Villiers-Saint-Paul site in France. A new 60,000 tonnes formaldehyde plant will increase resin capacity to more than 300,000 tonnes. Intended markets are northern France and the Benelux countries.

EC closes a strategy loophole in Bosch/Rexroth hydraulics takeover

December 18, 2000 - The disquiet felt by the European Commission over the proposed takeover by Bosch of the Mannesmann Rexroth hydraulics business has been overcome with the unusual condition that Bosch find an acceptable buyer for some of its own products before the deal would be ratified.
     The EC was concerned that while Rexroth only made axial piston pumps and Bosch radial piston pumps, putting the two ranges together would give Bosch a dominant position in the piston pump market. It therefore imposed a condition that Bosch should sell its radial piston pumps business to a competitor.
     Where this requirement differs from other similar requirements made by the EC before sanctioning a takeover is that the Commission wanted to be sure that Bosch would not sell the business to a less powerful competitor, and then use market forces to win back a dominant position. So it stipulated that a strong 'upfront buyer' should be found before it approved the Rexroth takeover.
     The 'upfront buyer' found by Bosch is Moog. So provided Moog buys Bosch's radial pumps, the Rexroth business finally becomes part of Bosch.

Epoxy and flame retardant prices up

December 18, 2000 - Dow Chemical is increasing the European prices of its epoxies, allyl chloride and epichlorohydrin by 7 - 10 per cent on January 1.
     On the same day the price of Great Lakes Chemical's Reofos and Kronitex phosphate ester flame retardants is going up 8 per cent globally.

Two new PE plants planned for Brazil

December 18, 2000 - Two polyethylene plants totalling 600,000 tonnes are to be built in Brazil on the Brazilian/Bolivian border by Companhia Petroquímica Paulista, which is owned 70 per cent by the Odebrect Petroquímica group and 30 per cent by Petrobras. The border position is to enable the plants to use natural gas imported from Bolivia. The two plants are expected on stream in 2005 - 2006.

Film line agency change

December 18, 2000 - Distribution of Italian-built CMG blown film equipment has moved to Extrutech from Calmtek. Extrutech also distributes Nextrom Technologies' blown and cast film equipment.

BASF to build foamed PS plant in Spain

December 18, 2000 - BASF is pitching at the Southern European building insulation market by building a polystyrene foam plant in Spain. It has started work on a 100,000 cu m plant for Styrodur C at Tudela in Navarra which is projected to go on line in 2002. BASF already makes 1·3 million cu m of Styrodur extruded carbon dioxide-foamed polystyrene at Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide in Germany and at Antwerp in Belgium and Bibbiano in Italy.
     The Spanish output will be targeted at the building trade on the Iberian peninsula and in southern France.

Danisco installs tenth line at Ilkeston

December 18, 2000 - Danisco Flexible has invested £1·6 million in a 2·6 m, three-layer blown film line at its Ilkeston, Derbyshire plant. The new Windmöller & Hölscher Varex Optifil becomes the tenth blown film line at the plant and brings factory capacity up to 2,500 tonnes/year. It increases coex capacity from 26 to 43 per cent of output.
     The investment included ancillary work such as increasing the height of the extrusion hall by 4 m to allow sufficient bubble cooling height.

Mixing process 'devulcanises rubber'

December 12, 2000 - Work has started on a two-year Eur 1·9 million research project part-funded by the European Commission to reclaim scrap rubber. The process is based on a technique known as mechanochemistry in which mechanical energy applied to a cured material is able to break the crosslink bonds without damaging the carbon backbones. Trials have shown that vulcanised rubber can be treated in an intensive mixer, then reformed and recured as new products.
     The basis of the process goes back to the 1950's when Dr William F Watson and other researchers showed that under certain conditions cured rubber can be softened purely by mastication. The current research is being undertaken by a company called Watson Brown HSM which has been set up to develop high shear mixers for this application. Watson Brown is working with companies and universities from England, the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal in the two-year programme part-funded by an EC CRAFT award.
     So far HSMs have been built at 2 g, 20 g and 2 kg laboratory scale. A 20 kg machine will be built next year as part of the CRAFT project, and a 200 kg batch machine is planned for 2001/2 with the introduction of HSM technology at an industrial scale. Designs exist for a continuous machine, but this will only be developed when the batch machine has been proven.
     More information on the technology is available at Watson Brown's website.

Pigments agency

December 12, 2000 - E&E UK (01274 377000) has been appointed UK distributor for Kemira Pigments of Finland. Kemira is among the top five titanium dioxide producers.

Slovak buy makes Barlo acrylic front runner

December 12, 2000 - Barlo Plastics now reckons to be Europe's leading producer of extruded acrylic sheet with the purchase of Slovakian sheet extruder PCHZ-Akryl through its operating company PSC, which is to be integrated into Barlo's operation as Barlo Plastics Slovakia. Barlo now has four acrylic extrusion centres in Europe - the capacity in Mainz, Germany, that it bought from BASF, the ex-ICI plant at Nischwitz, also in Germany, some capacity in Belgium and now the Zilina, Slovakia, business.
     PCHZ-Akryl brings an additional 6,500 tonnes of extrusion capacity and 9,000 tonnes of polymerisation, bringing Barlo up to 37,000 tonnes of extrusion and a similar amount of polymerisation.
     Barlo is paying up to Eur 7·8 million for PSC and in addition will take on Eur 5·8 million of debt.

Takeover slated for Key Plastics

December 12, 2000 - Troubled US automotive supplier Key Plastics looks like being taken over by private equity company Carlyle Management Group. CMG has entered an agreement to buy Key Plastics, which has been in Chapter 11 reorganisation since March, for between $185 and $195 million. The sale is subject to an auction to attempt to achieve higher and better bids, which should take place next month.
     Key Plastics specialises in moulding small to medium sized car components (on machines from 15 to 750 tonnes). It has operations worldwide, and its European presence included a plant in Coventry until this was closed in June this year. The company still has an office in Brentwood, Essex.

Exports growth forecast for Italian machinery

December 12, 2000 - Sales of Italian extruders and extrusion lines rose 27 per cent in the first nine months of this year over the equivalent 1999 period, according to statistics from Assocomoplast, the country's plastics and rubber machinery trade association. Within this growth was an increase of 23 per cent in domestic sales and 30 per cent in exports.
     Injection moulding machine sales were up, but rather less dramatically, by 7 per cent - 9 per cent at home and 3 per cent export.
     Overall the plastics and rubber machinery and moulds sector is expected to show a production increase in 2000 of 3 per cent more than 1999 at Eur 3,460 million, and Assocomaplast is forecasting a further increase of 4·5 per cent during next year. Exports figure strongly in next year's predictions, with a 9·5 per cent increase against a 4·5 per cent reduction in imports and 4 per cent fall in domestic sales.

PEX pipe investment

December 12, 2000 - Stamford Group company Micrex Profiles has invested £1 million in a Battenfeld five-layer pipe extrusion line to make cross-linked polyethylene pipe using sister company Micropol's Isoplas XLPE. The Pronto-PEX pipe is intended for domestic plumbing and heating, and is currently being evaluated for British Standards approval. Commercial production will start early in the new year at the Dukinfield, Cheshire, plant. The pipe will be extruded in 10, 15, 22 and 28 mm diameters and supplied in coils or straight lengths.
     Pronto-PEX consists of inner and outer XLPE layers with an oxygen barrier of EVOH and two tie layers. This could be made on a three-extruder line, but Micrex has opted for five extruders to give improved control of the individual layers.
     With the new extrusion line have come purpose-designed curing chambers which will allow output at up to 2,100 m/hour and a new pressure testing facility.

Rubber chemical production to be centralised

December 12, 2000 - Omya UK is closing its Cross Keys plant in South Wales where it makes Multisperse elastomer predispersions, and moving manufacture to its Humber site near Hull where facilities are being expanded and refurbished to substantially increase production. Some of the more specialised grades of Multisperse are already made at Humber, and Omya expects to be in production of the full range by next April. Focusing the rubber additives business on one site is expected to increase Omya's penetration of the UK elastomers business with its own products, which also include Caloxal calcium oxides, and distributed products, to which it has recently added accelerators from General Quimica and sulphur from RAG.

Supply rethink follows polycarbonate rationing

December 12, 2000 - The shortage of polycarbonate has led to a switch in suppliers by vehicle warning systems manufacturer Premier Hazard. Premier used to rely on its moulders sourcing the material, which came mainly from GE Plastics, but says that rationing has meant that its moulders can no longer guarantee supply. So now it is buying its own coloured PC compound from Cotswold Compounds, which specialises in polycarbonate. Cotswold says it is quoting lead times of 15 days, compared with up to 34 weeks being quoted by some larger suppliers.

Thinner film makes big savings for the NHS

December 12, 2000 - Reformulating the film for refuse sacks is making big savings in the health service. A new sack developed by British Polythene Industries in association with the NHS has achieved downgauging without compromising strength and performance through the use of metallocene PE.
     Use of the new sack has cut costs by £1 million a year and reduced annual waste disposal by 1,000 tonnes. Reduction of raw material volume, finished product and soiled sacks for incineration is also estimated to give an annual saving of 10,500 litres of diesel fuel.

Plimsole in mouth

December 12, 2000 - Plimsoll Publishing is a financial analysis company which studies company performance and forecasts trends. Its latest initiative is to name 36 companies that it says in 2001 'will be making waves throughout the year grabbing market share away from drifting and sinking companies.' Unfortunately it has included in its list of top shakers and movers Crystal Polymers, which closed in October. Which either tells us something about Mossi & Ghisolfi or something about financial forecasting.

Increased ethylene output plans in Brazil

December 10, 2000 - Three Brazilian cracker operators are increasing ethylene production by 850,000 tonnes over the next few years. Copene in Bahia has started a $204 million investment in adding 300,000 tonnes of capacity to bring its annual production to 1·5 million tonnes by 2004. Copesul, in Rio Grande do Sul, has invested $680 million in a 450,000 tonnes expansion bringing its capacity to 1·135 million tonnes. And PQU is planning to add 130,000 tonnes to its current 500,000 tonnes capacity in São Paulo state when it has secured a contract currently being negotiated with Petrobras for the supply of natural gas. The additional capacity should come on line by 2002, and PQU has further plans to double its output.

JV for Chinese petrochemicals plant

December 10, 2000 - BASF and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) have formed a new company to build and operate the planned integrated petrochemicals site in Nanjing, China based on a steam cracker producing 600,000 tonnes of ethylene. Several world-scale downstream plants will produce 1·7 million tonnes of chemicals for the Chinese market.
     The new BASF-Yangzi Company will be a 50:50 operation, and the site will call for a total investment of Eur 2·6 billion.

Slower growth forecast in rubber demand

December 10, 2000 - World rubber consumption is forecast to increase nearly 3 per cent/year until 2004, with non-tyre demand rising faster than for tyre use because of a deceleration in motor vehicle production. According to World Rubber & Tire, the latest report from Freedonia, the increase to 19·5 million tonnes will be at a slower rate than between 1994 and 1999.
     North America, Western Europe and Japan will have the greatest demand, but the fastest rise in demand will come from China and other developing countries in Asia/Pacific, Africa/Mideast and Latin America, says Freedonia. Eastern Europe will also post above-average gains, but this has to be seen in the light of the contraction in the tyre industry since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

     Among detailed pointers to growth Freedonia says that while thermoset rubber will be replaced by thermoplastic elastomers, this will not necessarily be unfavourable for rubber demand as many TPEs incorporate rubber. And in the tyre sector, Freedonia says that the popularity of sports utility vehicles in developed countries will increase rubber demand because of the greater amount of rubber per vehicle represented by these cars. Similarly, the popularity of performance tyres, which have shorter service lives, will also contribute to tyre rubber growth.

Smith pressed sheet business goes north

December 10, 2000 - Stanley Smith Plastics' pressed sheet business, which was operated at the company's Isleworth, London site before the site's closure, has been taken over by the PFI Group of Southport, Merseyside.
     PFI has bought the manufacturing rights, process details, and the four presses from 600 to 1,400 tonnes. These are being refurbished by Mackey Bowley and will be fitted with PLC controls before reinstallation at Southport.

Rhodia adds Venezuelan silicas

December 10, 2000 - Rhodia has completed its acquisition of Venezuelan precipitated silica producer Venesil. Venesil has an annual output of more than 20,000 tonnes of precipitated silica, and 50,000 tonnes of the raw material, sodium silicate.

Flame retardant distributor

December 10, 2000 - E&E UK (01274 377000) has become official UK distributor for Alcan's alumina and alumina trihydroxide (ATH) products. ATH is used in flame retardants.

Bayer to double polycarbonate production

December 7, 2000 - Investment planned by Bayer for its Makrolon polycarbonate business should make it the world's biggest producer. Around a billion Euros will be spent on virtually doubling capacity from its present 650,000 tonnes to nearly 1·3 million tonnes by 2005.
     Most of the investment will be in the Far East where Bayer expects double digit growth rates for polycarbonate. Capacity at the Map Ta Phut, Thailand, plant is to be increased in two stages from its present 50,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes by 2005. And at the planned Shanghai, China, plant production is to be increased from 50,000 tonnes in 2003 to 100,000 tonnes by the end of 2004.
     Production is also to be increased in Europe and North America, with output at Uerdingen, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium being increased to 500,000 tonnes/year by 2005, and at Baytown in the USA production will rise to 350,000 tonnes/year over the same period.
     The Antwerp facility also houses Bayer's new melt carbonate plant which came on stream in August and is currently capable of 40,000 tonnes/year across all the viscosity grades. Bayer says polycarbonate from this plant is of particular optical clarity, and it plans to funnel this material into applications where optical properties are paramount.

BIP buys Regent

December 7, 2000 - BIP has bought another British compounding company. Earlier this year it bought Plastex International, and has now added Regent Chemicals of London. Regent's operations will be transferred in stages to the Plastex plant at Cinderford in Gloucestershire and to BIP's Oldbury site.
     Regent's acquisition increases the range of ABS,PS, PC and PMMA compounds available from BIP since its Plastex acquisition. It also gives more scope for the use of recycled materials.
     Directors Lew Strong and Neil Kersey continue with Regent under its BIP ownership.
     BIP now has worldwide thermoplastic sales in excess of £40 million, and has seen a 150 per cent advance in UK sales over the past year.

New agent for winders/rewinders

December 7, 2000 - The French-built Monomatic range of winders and rewinders is now being sold in the UK by Jarshire. Monomatic reel stands can be built in horizontal or vertical configuration and can have built-in loading and unloading systems to eliminate the need for hydraulic tables or cranes. A variety of splicing methods is offered including a patented device for splicing in register for pre-printed reels.

Supreme adds Malpack food experience

December 7, 2000 - Supreme Plastics Group has bought Malpack Converters out of receivership for £281,703. The purchase covers goodwill and some assets. All Malpack's management and staff are being retained by Supreme.
     Malpack specialised in printed flexible plastics packaging, mainly for food wrapping. The business now becomes a division of Supreme Plastics and is expected to enhance Supreme's penetration into the food sector. Malpack continues to operate on its Grimsby site which has been sub-let to Supreme.

Management changes at DuPont Dow Elastomers

December 7, 2000 - Three changes have been made to the European management of DuPont Dow Elastomers. Steve Santoleri, previously a regional product manager for Neoprene in the Americas, is the new global business director for Hypalon and Tyrin. Former European region product manager for Hypalon and Tyrin Patrick Lederer is now European product manager for Viton and global product manager for Viton FreeFlow. And Rudy van Engen, European region product manager for Neoprene, takes on additional responsibility for Hypalon and Tyrin and becomes European product manager - chloroelastomers.

New boss at Britton's

December 7, 2000 - Andrew Shorthouse has become general manager at Britton's Plastics. He was previously operations and general manager for Unistrut. Former managing director of Britton's Mike Elms has now left the company.

Price increase for conductive blacks

December 7, 2000 - Degussa-Hüls is increasing the price of its extra conductive carbon black by Eur 1,500/tonne on January 1.