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Vita buys Italian masterbatch producer March 31, 2003
British Vita has bought Italian colour and additive masterbatch producer Synco, based near Prato, from Cognis for Eur 2 million. It is the second sale of a business unit by Cognis this month as part of its strategy to focus on its core operations - on March 17 it announced the sale of its Fragrances and Specialities business to Kao Chemicals of Japan.
Synco had sales of Eur 6 million in 2002 and employs 28 people.
Engineering plastics and antiox prices up March 31, 2003
The prices of some DuPont engineering plastics will be increased on April 14. Crastin PBT, Rynite PET, Zytel nylons and Minlon mineral reinforced nylons will all go up Eur 0·15/kg. The price of Delrin acetal will go up Eur 0·20/kg.
Two antioxidant producers have increased their prices worldwide. Great Lakes Chemical Corporation is raising prices 4 - 12 per cent effective April 7. Anox 330 goes up 4 per cent; Lowinox 44B25, AH25, CPL and 22M46 go up 5 per cent; and the prices of Anox HPG and Meramid FC will be raised by 12 per cent.
Bayer has increased the price of its Vulkanox BKF 2246 sterically hindered phenolic antioxidant by a minimum of 10 per cent with immediate effect.
Colour measurement specialist Gretag Macbeth moves today to: Greenway House, Abbots Park, Preston Brook, Cheshire WA7 3GH. The new telephone number is 01928 280050 and fax 01928 280080.
World scale plants planned for PET precursor March 27, 2003
Plans for world-scale purified terephthalic acid (a key feedstock for PET) plants have been announced by BP and Eastman. BP is to build a new plant at its Geleen, Netherlands, site and Eastman has sold a license to a Chinese company to use its proprietary EPTA technology.
The 700,000 tonnes plant which has gone into the detailed design phase at BP will take the total PTA capacity at Geel to 1·7 million tonnes. Output will be mainly targeted at European PET production. Construction is expected to start in 2004 with the plant coming on stream in 2006. BP's Geel site also has capacity for 420,000 tonnes of paraxylene, the feedstock for PTA production.
Eastman Chemical's licensing agreement is with Zhejiang Hualian Sunshine Petrochemical Industry Co which will build a 600,000 tonnes plant in Zhejiang Province, with engineering starting immediately. The license has been sold through the consortium of Eastman, Lurgi Oel Gas Chemie and SK Chemicals. Lurgi has a global exclusive right to license Eastman's EPTA and SK makes its own brand of terephthalic acid through an Eastman license, with current capacity of 420,000 tonnes. Eastman's own Voridian division makes more than 450,000 tonnes of PTA a year.
BASF is to increase European prices for its styrene copolymer specialties on April 1. The prices for Luran S, Terlux and Terblend N will be increased by Eur 150/tonne.
GTS Flexible Materials of Ebbw Vale has been appointed European distributor, in partnership with Mitsui, for Apical polyimide films made by Kaneka High-Tech Materials.
PolyOne expects to close film plant March 27, 2003
PolyOne Corporation is to close its Engineered Films plant in Yerington, Nevada, USA, unless it can sell it quickly as a going concern. Closure will be by the end of the second quarter this year.
Yerington is one of four plants in PolyOne's Engineered Films unit, which is currently seeing a slowdown in demand for certain custom film products, as well as low margins. Some products will be transferred to other plants, while some low margin lines will be discontinued.
Hydro invests in chlorine and compounds March 26, 2003
Hydro Polymers, the petrochemical sector of Norsk Hydro, is to invest around Eur 127 million in a new chlorine manufacturing facility at Rafnes in Norway. Hydro is planning to divest its petrochemicals business, but sees this investment necessary to enhance the value of the operation. Hydro Polymers currently buys chlorine from external sources, but the market for chlorine in Europe has tightened considerably in recent years and transporting large quantities of chlorine to Rafnes, in the form of the intermediate product EDC, is expensive.
The new facility will take two years to construct and is scheduled to come online in 2005. It will double output capacities to 260,000 tonnes of chlorine and 140,000 tonnes of caustic soda, but will keep emissions at current levels. Hydro Polymers is planning a £2 million investment at its Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, plant. A new compounding line will be added to increase the plant's current annual output of 370,000 tonnes of PVC compound, which already makes it the biggest single site PVC compounding plant in Europe.
Berstorff moves into thermoforming sheet March 26, 2003
Mannesmann Plastics Machinery Group extrusion equipment companies Berstorff and Krauss-Maffei have moved closer together with the takeover by Berstorff of Adolf Seide Engineering and the setting up of KMB (for Krauss-Maffei Berstorff) Seide Technology.
Seide is a specialist in cast film and sheet calender technology and has patents covering film cooling with metal belts, planetary calendars, post-cooling units for plastic sheet and linear smoothing units. The new company takes Berstorff into the thermoforming sheet machinery business, and extends the sheet technology available from K-M's extrusion division. Berstorff is already involved in the specialised technical film and sheet sector, while K-M Extrusion builds equipment for PVC sheet.
Seide will continue to operate independently alongside its involvement in systems and the joint sales activities of Berstorff and Krauss-Maffei Extrusion. Berstorff describes the new company as 'a visible step in the intensive technical co-operation between the extrusion activities of Krauss-Maffei and Berstorff'.
APME backs WaterAid appeal with 'click to give' website March 26, 2003
The European plastics industry, through the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, has started a charity appeal to fund the provision of drinking water to impoverished areas of Africa. It has set up a 'click to give' website, from which every click generated will trigger a Eur 0·1 donation to the WaterAid charity. The target is 1·5 million clicks, raising Eur 150,000, by June 22.
The appeal was timed to coincide with the United Nations World Water Day on March 22 and the International Year of Fresh Water. Funds raised will be put towards several of WaterAid's projects, including the supply of clean water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in the Plateau and Bauchi states of Nigeria. The majority of Nigeria's 111 million population live in extreme poverty, with only 57 per cent of the population having access to safe drinking supplies.
In addition to the click-to-give website, a new classroom activity card has been developed by APME in conjunction with national plastics associations and European educationalists. The education card 'Water for Life' complements the industry's teaching pack which has been developed for 14 - 16 year olds across Europe.
Trade associations urge again for CCL burden to be reduced March 26, 2003
The consortium of nine industry associations pressing the government for a fairer deal for manufacturing industry and the polymer sector in particular, have written to Chancellor Gordon Brown to request a further review of the Climate Change Levy, the increase in employers' National Insurance Contributions, and other tax and economic burdens.
They are asking that the CCL be replaced by negotiated agreements to reduce energy usage; they point to a survey that 40 per cent of industrial employers are planning to reduce their workforce to counter higher NICs; and they are calling for other fiscal measures to encourage investments, reduce the effects of higher insurance premiums, and prevent rises in diesel fuel costs.
Specific examples of the CCL burden quoted by the BPF are: a plastics pipes producer paying £123,000, an EPS packaging producer £74,000 and a small moulder £65,000. For the largest companies the net impact is over £1 million. 'The opportunity cost means lower investment on plant and innovation and reduced expenditure on marketing at a time when business is extremely difficult to win and hold', says the BPF.
The federation also warns of the impending impact of the increase in Employers National Insurance Contributions to be implemented from April 1. Research has revealed a plastics pipes producer with 900 employees which will pay an additional £150,000 in NICs; a machinery supplier with 40 staff will sustain a rise of £12,000. 'This amounts to a strong disincentive to employ staff. It reduces our ability to invest in much needed training at a time when national training facilities are in a transitional stage and diluting their coverage of key strategic sectors like plastics.' In addition, points out the BPF, the industry is faced with year on year insurance increases of up to 100 per cent in some cases.
The nine associations are the British Plastics Federation, British Rubber Manufacturers' Association, Packaging & Industrial Films Association, Flexible Packaging Association, Gauge and Toolmakers' Association, Polymer Machinery Manufacturers' & Distributors' Association, Northern Ireland Polymers Association, British Coatings Federation and Scottish Plastics & Rubber Association.
GE Plastics has set up an Automotive Business Unit based at Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands, and headed by Andre Horbach, since 2002 vice president of GE Plastics Europe. His role is taken over by Golnar Motahari-Pour who spent seven years with GE Plastics Europe before moving to GE Lighting Europe and GE Consumer Products where she has been for the past three years.
Hank Reeves joins GE Plastics from GE Capital as vice president of GEP Americas.
New head at K-M Plastics Machinery March 26, 2003
The new head of Krauss-Maffei Kunstofftechnik is Josef Märtl, who was in charge of injection moulding technology. He has been acting chairman of the board since the departure of Wilhelm Schröder in September last year.
Shell/Basell steam cracker upgrade March 26, 2003
The Societe du Craqueur de l'Aubette (SCA) joint venture between Shell Petrochimie Mediterranee and Basell is to upgrade its steam cracker at Berre in the South of France, starting mid-year and taking around a year to complete. Part of the upgrade will enable the reduction of SO2 emissions from the cracker by 25 per cent compared with the 2000 level.
Ethylene copolymer and flame retardant price increases March 26, 2003
DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers is increasing the prices of all its ethylene copolymer resins sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by Eur 0·1/kg on April 1. These include Appeel lidding sealant resins, Bynel adhesive resins, Elvaloy modifier resins, Elvaloy AC acrylate copolymer resins, Elvanol polyvinyl alcohol, Elvax vinyl acetate copolymer resins, Fusabond modifier resins, Nucrel acid copolymer resins and Surlyn ionomer resins.
Great Lakes Chemical Corporation is increasing the worldwide prices of its brominated flame retardants by 10 per cent from April 7.
Materials involved include: PBS and PDBS dibromostyrene; PHT-4 and PHT4-Diol tetrabromophthalic anhydride; CD-75 series hexabromocyclododecane; BA-59P tetrabromobisphenol A; DE-79 octabromodiphenyl oxide; and PH-73 tribromophenol additives. The prices of DE-60F Special pentabromodiphenyl oxide and DE-83R decabromodiphenyl oxide will not go up as they were increased in October last year and January this year respectively.
BP is to sell its $300 million turnover specialty intermediate chemicals business as part of its strategy of focusing its chemicals portfolio on its core petrochemical businesses. The business has three product lines, trimellitic anhydride (TMA), purified isophthalic acid (PIA) and maleic anhydride (MAN). TMA is a plasticizer used in making flexible coatings, PIA is used in a range of high-strength polyester resins (and in particular, in bottle grade PET where it improves processability and clarity) and coating applications and MAN is used in unsaturated polyester resins.
The sale will include the US production plant for these products near Joliet, Illinois, and PIA produced at BP's integrated aromatics and polyolefins complex in Geel, Belgium. The Joliet plant has a capacity of 200,000 tonnes of PIA and is the largest single production unit in the world, supplying more than half of US PIA demand. It is also the world's largest TMA facility with a capacity of 65,000 tonnes, and the plant also produces 50,000 tonnes of MAN. The Geel PIA operation is capable of producing 120,000 tonnes per year and supplies about half of European demand. BP intends to continue to own and operate the Geel PIA unit on behalf of the buyer of the business.
Plastics profits boom, but BASF takes the cautious view March 18, 2003
Substantially increased profits in its plastics and fibres sector, combined with further increases in chemicals and performance products, helped BASF to a 117 per cent pre-tax profits rise last year on sales relatively unchanged on 2001 - although net income was down 74 per cent from 2001 which included the sale of the pharmaceuticals business.
Sales in plastics and fibres rose slightly (3·6 per cent) to Eur 8·477 billion, producing a profit (before special items) up 229·4 per cent at Eur 593 million - although Dr John Feldmann commented at the results meeting that 'there is still room for improvement'.
Plastics demand rose 12 per cent last year from a combination of new product development and increased sales in Asia, but in that growth was an element of re-stocking by companies who had run down their inventories at the end of 2001. While this gave BASF a good return on its production assets, the improved profitability was offset by currency exchange costs, higher raw materials prices, and lower sales prices.
Over the longer term BASF is restructuring its plastics and fibres division to improve its efficiency, and an imminent major change is the disposal of fibres and acquisition of more engineering materials in a deal with Honeywell. BASF has also been closing less efficient capacity and opening more competitive plants, has been rationalising its commodity materials production, and investing in Asia to meet growing demand there. Asian business is also expected to grow through the extension of e-commerce to the region: more than Eur 700 million worth of sales went through e-commerce in Europe and the NAFTA countries last year, and now Asia has been brought on-line BASF is predicting more than Eur 1 billion worth of e-commerce sales this year.
Prediction of business in the coming year is still in the lap of uncertainty because of the (at time of writing this, still undeclared) war in Iraq. BASF chairman Jürgen Strube offered a choice of scenarios for the future. In the event of peace, he expected an average oil price of just over $23/barrel, global economic growth of more than 2 per cent, and an increase in global chemical production of more than 3 per cent. In the more likely event of war, he said, there would be stagnation in global growth for the first half of the year, oil prices peaking at more than $35/barrel, a one per cent fall in global economic growth over the year, and global chemical production growth only 2 per cent - and that assumed a quick war. If it dragged on, stagnation would result.
BASF is increasing the price of caprolactam on April 1 by Eur 240/tonne, and with it will come increases of the same magnitude in the price of Ultramid B and Ultramid BS nylon 6. The price of compounded Ultramid B grades will rise Eur 200/tonne and compounded nylon 66 (Ultramid A) will be increased Eur 150/tonne.
With its nylon price rises, BASF is also increasing the prices of acetal and PBT. Ultraform POM will be increased Eur 200/tonne and Ultradur PBT by Eur 150/tonne.
Blow moulder M & H Plastics of Beccles in Suffolk has been bought by its management, supported by J P Morgan Partners. Privately-owned M & H specialises in bottles for the personal care market and had sales last year of £40 million. It employs around 600 people in a 450,000 sq ft factory on a 50 acre freehold site in Beccles. The sale is effective from March 14.
M & H has equipment for extrusion blow moulding up to 1,000 ml in PE, PP, PVC and PET and also for stretch blow moulding of PET as well as injection moulding of caps and extrusion of flexible tubes.
J P Morgan Partners was involved in the acquisition last year of US cap moulder Berry Plastics, which also has cap moulding operations in the UK.
Basell is increasing the European price of all grades of its polypropylene and polyethylene by Eur 150/tonne on April 1 because of the continued increases in feedstock costs.
British Vita invests £1 m in new compounder March 18, 2003
Vita Thermoplastic Compounds has commissioned a £1 m compounding line for thermoplastic elastomer production at its Middleton, Manchester, site.
The line - a Berstorff Ultra Torque twin screw extruder, Brabender feed system and Gala under water pelletiser - will be used to produce new, higher performance, TPEs, as well as existing Vitaprene and Dryflex materials.
Second East European plant for Gabriel-Chemie March 18, 2003
Masterbatch specialist Gabriel-Chemie has opened a plant in Hungary. The company has bought production equipment from TVK and has started with an initial capacity of 300 tonnes. The plan is to increase output to 1,000 tonnes a year by 2006.
Gabriel-Chemie, based in neighbouring Austria, has been selling to Hungary since the early 1970s, and has had an agency in Budapest since 1995. As well as supplying the Hungarian market, the new production site will supply companies in neighbouring Eastern European countries such as Romania and Ukraine.
The plant is Gabriel-Chemie's second in Eastern Europe. It set up Gabriel-Chemie Bohemia in 1999.
Plastics consumption in Italy last year looks like being only slightly above that of 2001, despite a very encouraging start. A new survey by Plastic Consult of Milan shows a first half boom in sales of materials, but this was only to replenish stocks, and demand fell in the second half as these stocks were released. Overall the company estimates actual sales of materials to have totalled 3·84 million tonnes, the same as in 2001 and below the 3·875 million tonnes sold in 2000. Imports increased, exports decreased, and actual consumption - the material converted to product - increased only 1·4 per cent over 2001 at 7·04 million tonnes to record the worst performance since 1993.
Actual ('000 tonnes)
Estimated ('000 tonnes)
2000
2001
2002
Total supply*
3,875
3,840
3,840
Imports
4,455
4,630
4,780
Exports
1,490
1,525
1,500
Actual consumption**
6,815
6,940
7,040
Year on year growth (%)
2·9
1·8
1·4
Thermoplastics
Total supply*
3,440
3,420
3,500
Imports
4,140
4,310
4,425
Exports
1,310
1,355
1,370
Actual consumption**
6,245
6,370
6,475
Year on year growth (%)
2·7
2·0
1·6
Of which...
LDPE/LLDPE
1,375
1,425
1,445
HDPE
770
780
800
PP
1,525
1,575
1,620
PVC
945
960
965
PS/EPS
620
630
645
Selected thermosets***
Total supply*
435
420
340
Imports
315
320
355
Exports
180
170
130
Actual consumption**
570
570
565
Year on year growth (%)
4·6
0·0
-0·9
* Total supply has been taken as total sales, that is production minus stock variation of suppliers. ** Actual consumption has been defined as converted plastics, that is total purchases minus stock variation of processing industries. *** Thermoset moulding powders and compounds, unsaturated polyester and epoxies for plastic uses only (excluding paints, adhesives, etc), polyurethane raw materials (polyols plus isocyanates).
Packaging is the biggest consumption sector for plastics materials and although the overall plastics market increased at a low rate, packaging grew at more than 3 per cent. Growth in flexible packaging (3·7 per cent) was largely due to automatic packaging (5·7 per cent), with BOPP and other bioriented films leading the development.
In rigid packaging, only thermoformable foils experienced a very good growth (about 5·5 per cent), while growth in bottle production was even lower than the overall plastics growth.
Plastics demand in building and construction was 2·5 per cent in 2002, in line with the development of the building industry, although demand for pipes showed less growth due to the slowdown in public works. Insulation also showed a satisfactory market development, with expanded extruded PS sheets and PU panels with rigid facings responsible for most of the growth. Zero growth was recorded by profiles, window profiles still being penalized by shrinking export markets, where the bulk of sales is destined.
Furniture is the third major market for plastics, accounting for close to 5·5 per cent of total demand. Last year upholstered furniture (including bedding), which is among the most important end uses for polyurethane foam, was hit by the country's adverse economic conditions (GNP growth 0·4 per cent, industrial production -2·3 per cent and inflation 2·2 per cent). Severe export difficulties were also faced by Italian producers of garden furniture, and overall plastics demand in this sector grew only 0·5 per cent.
Total virgin plastics consumption in the automotive sector went down by 9 - 10 per cent in 2002, more or less in line with the decrease of car production, despite the growing unit consumption of plastics and the growing exports of car components by Italian suppliers. The report's authors blame the increasing use of reclaimed materials.
Production of electrical household appliances showed some growth in 2002 despite the gradually worsening economic trends. Plastics demand went up accordingly.
2002 was another negative year for Italian agriculture, due to heavy competition from other countries. Demand for virgin plastics went down again (approximately -1·5 per cent) because of lower demand for crop protection film.
Among other plastics applications the most important sector is footwear. International demand here was poor in 2002 and exports, which account for more than 80 per cent of Italian production, shrank considerably. In addition, domestic demand has been met increasingly by imports from the Far East.
Overall the plastics processing industry in Italy was little changed with the number of companies remaining static, and a slight increase in the number of employees. Sales value declined, but raw materials prices declined further and added value increased.
Estimated
Forecast
2000
2001
2002
%2002/2001
Companies (number)
5,400
5,400
5,400
0·0
Factories (number)
7,100
7,100
7,100
0·0
Total employees (number)
134,000
136,000
137,000
0·7
Sales (million Euro)
16,800
16,200
15,700
-3·1
Added value (million Euro)*
8,250
8,250
8,400
1·8
% added value/sales*
49·2
50·9
53·5
5·1
Sales per employee (thousand Euro)
125·4
119·1
114·6
-3·8
Added value per employee (thousand Euro)
61·6
60·7
61·3
1·0
* Added value is calculated as the difference between sales price and raw material costs.
Extruded film is the biggest single sector in Italian plastics processing, and with other extrusion processes makes up more than half of total plastics processing.
2002
2002
Extruded film
30·3%
Injection moulded parts
26·5%
Extruded sheet
7·9%
Blow moulded products
8·0%
Extruded pipe
8·6%
Calendered film/sheet and coated fabrics
5·2%
Extruded profile
3·0%
Others*
8·8%
Other extruded products
1·7%
Total extruded products
51·5%
* PU, EPS, PE, PP and PVC foam, GR polyester, rotational moulding, casting, slush and dip moulding, sintering, thermoset moulding.
Polymers business holds its ground at Bayer March 13, 2003
The continuing cost containment policy at Bayer held operating profits against slightly reduced sales, and last year the group's polymers business recorded the same figure as the year before, at Eur 418 million. Sales fell 2 per cent to Eur 10·8 billion.
Part of Bayer's cost saving operation has been to dispose of non-core businesses across its four operating divisions (polymers, healthcare, chemicals and agrochemicals) and, apart from rubber chemicals producer Rhein Chemie Rheinau, this has been completed. An agreement had been made to sell Rhein Chemie, but the sale was abandoned in December. Bayer is not actively seeking a new purchaser, but plans to dispose of the company eventually.
Overall group sales slipped 1 per cent to Eur 29 billion last year, while the cost of restructuring, currency effects and world trading conditions slashed operating profit before exceptional items by 46 per cent to Eur 989 million. The divestment programme, however, contributed to net income which rose 10 per cent to Eur 1·1 billion.
A major effect on group results was the downturn in the healthcare business, which would have been the biggest sector were it not for the 12 per cent drop in sales, putting it just behind the polymers division turnover at Eur 9·4 billion. Although even with a 21 per cent fall in operating profit it was still substantially more profitable than polymers at Eur 739 million. The much publicised Lipobay/Baycol drug withdrawal was mainly responsible for the fall, and the high profile court action in the USA, which has already cost Eur 140 million for 500 out of court settlements with 8,400 suits currently on file, is likely to make a further hole in Bayer's resources.
The cost reduction programme continues with its target of increasing profitability by Eur 2·2 billion by 2005, including a reduction in employee numbers of 15,000. In 2002 this programme brought savings of Eur 250 million and more than 3,600 job cuts. The group plans to spend Eur 2·6 billion this year on research and development - more than half of it in healthcare - and a further Eur 1·8 billion on plant and other assets.
Overall Bayer chairman Werner Wenning expressed 'cautious optimism' for 2003 based on the results for the first two months.
Engineering polymers, epoxies and plasticizers price increase March 13, 2003
Ticona is raising the European prices of its acetal and thermoplastic polyesters. Hostaform POM is going up Eur 0·20/kg while Celanex PBT, Impet PET, Riteflex TPE-E and Vandar thermoplastic polyester blends all go up Eur 0·15/kg.
On April 1 Dow Epoxy Products and Intermediates will increase epoxy resin prices. In Europe, Dow is aiming for a Eur 100/tonne increase and in the Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent the aim is for $150tonne. In South East Asia Dow is also increasing prices of liquid epoxy and solid epoxy resins by $90/tonne on April 1 and again on May 1. Solid solution grades will go up $80/tonne, again on April 1 and May 1.
Eastman Chemical Company is implementing a global increase of $0·177/kg on all plasticizer products from April 1.
Husky plans tooling expansion as PET increases sales March 13, 2003
Increasing demand for its hot runner tooling has triggered a $13 million investment at Husky Injection Molding Systems with the addition of equipment in enlarged manufacturing space at its Milton, Vermont, USA plant and the creation of 50 jobs, rising to 100. As part of the expansion Husky has moved plate manufacturing from Bolton, Ontario, Canada to Milton and made room in the short term by temporarily re-locating its controls manufacturing.
Hot runner manufacture is a key growth area in the company's mould manufacturing business, and the company's plants at Bolton and in Luxembourg are currently operating at record levels. Most of the tooling growth has been for PET bottle preforms and the major increase in Husky's PET business accounted for a significant part of the company's financial turn round in the first half of its current financial year - sales in the first half, to the end of January, increased more than 38 per cent at US$334·3 million over the 2001 - 2002 figure, and with cost savings reversed the US$24·2 loss at the previous half year to a profit of $12·5 per cent. An additional driver to the increased sales was the backlog of orders with which the company closed the previous year, and this backlog has grown such that at the end of January it was 36 per cent higher than at the previous January, at US$365·5 million.
As well as the tooling expansion in the USA, Husky is continuing to invest worldwide, and is currently building a technical centre in Shanghai, China, which will act as the nucleus for the start of manufacturing in China. In this financial year Husky anticipates investing around US$60 million.
While worldwide - and particularly in the USA - Husky has seen a boom in PET it is anticipating a slow down in orders, and is looking for sales growth in other markets.
The new president of the Celanese engineering plastics business Ticona is Lyndon Cole, who is currently president of Celanese Chemicals, and before joining Celanese in 2002, was chief executive of Elementis. He will take over on April 1 from Stefan Sommer, who is leaving Celanese.
New filtration and pelletising equipment from Thorne March 13, 2003
B A Thorne (Machinery) has been appointed sales and service agent for Econ of Austria. The range includes continuous backflush screen changers and special units for very low viscosity materials such as PET, PA and PP with nearly 70 per cent free filtration area. A recent addition is a range of automated underwater pelletisers, also suitable for PET, with a newly developed ceramic die face plate with very good wear and thermal characteristics. Three sizes of vacuum pyrolysis furnaces for cleaning screens, dies etc complete the range.
ATM sets up separate automation company March 13, 2003
Automation specialist ATM Automation has been split into two to handle its parallel businesses of special purpose automation and sales to the plastics market of conventional beam robots, six-axis robots and downstream equipment.
The original ATM Automation continues to focus on the robot and downstream applications in plastics moulding and a new company, ATM Automation Systems, will serve the assembly automation market.
ATM Automation Systems is based in the existing ATM facility. Robert Hopper remains managing director and owner of the original company and Richard Matthews becomes the managing director of the new company with Robert Hopper retaining a shareholding.
Polibrasil - the joint venture between Basell and Suzano - has started up its new 300,000 tonnes Spheripol process polypropylene plant near São Paulo in Brazil.
There are now 79 Spheripol process plants operating worldwide, plus another eight under construction. Installed Spheripol capacity is about 12 million tonnes per year - more than half of the PP capacity worldwide.
DuPont buys engineering materials business from Eastman and adds agency for TPI March 5, 2003
DuPont has bought Eastman's high performance crystalline plastics business with which it plans to reinforce its position in the, principally, automotive and electrical/electronics industries. Eastman has sold it because the company had 'a limited market presence in the markets that represent the best growth opportunities for these products'.
The sale, for which no price has been disclosed, is purely one of intellectual and commercial property with no transfer of physical assets or people. Eastman says it plans to shift its resources to producing amorphous copolymers and cellulosics for the medical, durables, consumer and specialty packaging markets where it is strong.
The deal involves three engineering polyesters, two of which match existing products at DuPont. They are Titan LCP, Thermx PCT and the Thermx EG series of reinforced PET. The Titan LCPs will be integrated into DuPont's Zenite line and will, according to DuPont, expand the range for customers needing LCPs in applications that require added toughness and weld line strength. The Thermex EG materials will be integrated with DuPont's Rynite PET range.
Thermx PCT (polycyclohexylene dimethyl terephthalate) is not already made by DuPont, and Eastman will supply DuPont with the polymer. PCT is primarily noted for its high temperature potential. Melting point is 290 degC compared with 225 deg for PBT and 250 deg for PET. Eastman describes it as bridging the gap between conventional engineering plastics (PBT, PET, PA66 and SPS) and higher cost materials (PPS, LCP and high temperature nylons). There is also a modified form, PCTA, which Eastman promotes for small appliance components and cookware, which is FDA compliant. DuPont has also expanded its engineering polymers portfolio with Aurum injection mouldable thermoplastic polyimide from Mitsui Chemicals. DuPont mainly sells polyimide through its Vespel business, which originally consisted of parts and stock shapes made by cold forming and sintering. In 2000 DuPont added a range of injection moulded parts and shapes (Vespel TP) using some grades of Aurum made exclusively for DuPont by Mitsui.
In the new agreement, DuPont Engineering Polymers has taken on the distribution and technical support for Aurum in Europe and the USA. The grades sold will not be those used for Vespel TP parts, which remain exclusive to the Vespel business.
DuPont to close Dutch plant in nylon compounding rationalisation March 5, 2003
DuPont is planning to close its nylon compounding plant at Rozenburg in the Netherlands as part of a European-wide rationalisation. The company also compounds nylons at Uentrop in Germany and Mechelen in Belgium, and given the general over capacity for nylon compounds in Europe, has decided that it can work more efficiently by concentrating its operations on the German and Belgian sites.
There are no plans to transfer any plant out of Rozenburg, and the site is to be run down steadily until closure in the middle of 2004.
Tighter control helps restore profits for materials manufacturers March 5, 2003
Despite the problems besetting plastics manufacturers in the depressed global markets of 2002 companies are reporting improved profitability through better cost control and restructuring.
Borealis improved on its 2001 performance, turning an overall net loss of Eur 41 million into a net profit of Eur 6 million.
The major credit for the turn round goes to a cost management and reorganisation programme started in October 2001 which kept cash under control, reducing the company's gearing from 102 per cent to 79 per cent and cutting debt by Eur 297 million. Overall sales value in fact reduced, from Eur 3,708 million in 2001 to Eur 3,514 million in 2002 while operating profit rose from Eur 54 million to Eur 85 million.
All three of British Vita's core businesses improved profitability by an accumulated 21 per cent at £58·9 million, pushing the group's overall pre-tax profit up by 7 per cent to £73·1 million. Across its cellular polymers, engineering polymers and non-wovens operations Vita has disposed of a number of businesses and acquired others, giving an overall reduction in turnover but increase in profit. UK sales and profits declined, while business with both Europe and the rest of the world improved during the year.
EVC International continued to lose money, but it trimmed its operating loss of Eur 23·8 million in 2001 to a loss of Eur 1·9 million (net loss of Eur 86·5 million down to a net loss of Eur 40·1 million in 2002) from a turnover down from Eur 1,071·6 million to Eur 1,053·8 million. This slip in turnover was despite an average sales price for suspension PVC 34 per cent higher in the second half of the year than in the second half of 2001.
Within EVC's businesses, the production of polymers saw reduced sales revenues (Eur 675·3 million, down from Eur 697 million) and reduced losses (Eur 35 million down from Eur 48·9 million) while revenues from compounds and films rose from Eur 374·6 million to Eur 378·5 million, returning a profit up from Eur 25·1 million at Eur 33·1 million.
British Vita nears compound production in Malaysia March 5, 2003
British Vita has commissioned a compounding plant in Malaysia, and plans to start production in May. The £1·33 million facility near Johor Bahru will make a range of polypropylene, polycarbonate, ABS and polyamide products for the household appliance and electronics markets.
The first production line was shipped from the UK in January and two more lines will be installed this month.
Higher prices for polymers and additives March 5, 2003
Prices of Dow Plastics' Magnum ABS and Tyril SAN will increase across Europe by Eur 0·20/kg on April 1. Dow says that margins for ABS are at an all-time low because of the highly volatile hydrocarbons and energy situation, and possibility of war in the Middle East. Eastman Chemical is raising the price of Spectar 14471 copolyester globally by $0.13 per kilogram on April 1. The prices for all Basell's Advanced Polyolefins products in Europe will go up by Eur 80/tonne on April 1. European prices for some of Rohm and Haas's lubricants, impact modifers and processing aids are to be raised on April 1.
Advalube, Advawax and Advapak specialty lubricants will go up by an average of 9 per cent because of significant increases in the cost of energy and raw materials - rape oil, palm oil and tallow.
The price of Paraloid acrylic impact modifiers and processing aids will be increased by 6 per cent.
Resin Express becomes exclusive UK distributor for Atoglas' Oroglas acrylic on April 1.
Oroglas is used in the automotive, optical media, construction, cosmetics, medical, and point of sale industries. Standard grades such as Oroglas V825T, VM, and VS are UV and scratch resistant and are used in for point of sale, signs and displays.
Automotive lighting grades are M1-4T, HFI-7 and Oroglas SG-7 is a speciality medical grade with good impact and gamma resistance. Oroglas VOD has high flow and high light transmission and is used to make DVDs.
Bayer streamlines further by quitting joint ventures March 5, 2003
Bayer has pulled out of two joint ventures with the sale of its PolymerLatex operation, shared with Degussa, and closure of Bayer-Shell Isocyanates.
The sale of PolymerLatex to Soros Private Equity Partners for Eur 235 million completes the divestment program which Bayer launched at the end of 2001 as part of a group-wide reorganization.
PolymerLatex was set up in 1996 to make latex products for paper, carpet/moulded foam and speciality applications. In 2001 it had sales of Eur 344 million. Soros says it intends to develop PolymerLatex's operations in the coming years with possible add-on-acquisitions to consolidate its market share.
The Bayer Antwerpen/Shell Petroleum Bayer-Shell Isocyanates joint venture was established in 1969, to make toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) polyurethane raw materials. It operates a plant in Antwerp, Belgium with a TDI unit capable of 30,000 tonnes per year and an MDI unit with a capacity of 36,000 tonnes per year. All MDI production is marketed by Bayer, and all TDI production by Shell.
The decision to close the company followed a review of the plant which showed that it would no longer be economically viable in the future. Shut down date has been set at June 30, 2003.
Bayer intends to supply MDI from elsewhere in its international production network and Shell will continue to supply TDI through global procurement.
BP has cut linear alpha olefin production by temporarily shutting down its 500,000 tonnes plant in Pasadena, Texas, USA, because of recent increases in production costs. Restart of the plant will be determined by economics and market conditions.
BP also makes linear alpha olefins - which are used in the manufacture of a variety of plastics, lubricants, surfactants, and other products - at a 250,000 tonnes plant in Joffre, Canada and a 300,000 tonnes per year plant in Feluy, Belgium.
The Cos-Mar joint venture Atofina/General Electric Petrochemicals styrene monomer plant at Carville, Louisiana, USA, is to be expanded and modernised to increase styrene capacity from 900,000 to 1,150,000 tonnes/year. Completion is planned for third quarter 2004. The Cos-Mar facility is already one of the largest styrene monomer plants in the world.
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