Polymer-Chemie launches expansion of Russian plant
German plastics compounder Polymer-Chemie has formally launched the first expansion phase of the compounding plant of Tula Polymer, its Russian production subsidiary in Russia’s Tula region.
Stage one of the project was formally inaugurated in the presence of top company, regional and municipal officials on 8 April.
The compounder is reported to have invested more than €12m in the manufacture of rigid and soft PVC compounds at the facility in the Leninsky district of Tula in south west Russian.
Tula Polymer is expected to raise its investment to around €40m increasing the capacity from 28,000 tons to 120,000 tons of powder per year with the creation of about 100 jobs. Output will be directed largely at the Russian market and those of neighbouring countries.
Poly-Chemie company, a privately-owned business based in Bad Sobernheim, Germany, has a compounding capacity of 150,000 tpa.
It has three separate business units. They comprise PVC compounds, including pellet and dry blend rigid as well as plasticized compounds; polyolefin and engineering polymer based compounds, also serving toll compounding customers, and the metal powder compounds for metal injection moulding.
At the beginning of this year, Poly-Chemie expanded its overall capacity with its acquisition of the German company Masterbatch Winter, a specialist in small quantities of colour masterbatches based in Mühlheim.
Coca-Cola shuts US PET recycling plant
The joint-venture PET recycling plant that Coca-Cola opened with great fanfare two years ago in South Carolina, the US, has closed.
Neither Coke nor United Resource Recovery has made any official announcement about the closing of their joint venture plant, NURRC. But several sources confirmed to Plastics News that NURRC closed the first week in March, that all 50 factory workers were laid off, and that virtually the entire office staff was laid off two weeks ago.
Sources also said that NURRC is remiss in its payments to its brokers and materials recovery facilities, and that at least one lawsuit has been filed by a supplier of PET bottles seeking payment. They also said that John Burgess, president of Coca-Cola Recycling, has been placed on indefinite leave, and that several NURRC staff employees have been actively inquiring about job possibilities at other plastic recyclers.
There was no immediate response from either company to inquiries from Plastics News.
The plant had been ballyhooed as the shining star that would enable Coke to achieve its goal of incorporating 10% recycled content in its PET bottles by last year and 25% by 2015.
But Coke did not meet that goal of 10% recycled content for its PET bottles in 2010, and sources said that only about 1 million pounds (0.45 million kilos) of recycled PET from the NURRC Spartanburg plant —which is only a fraction of the plant’s nameplate capacity of 56 million pounds (24 million kilos) —actually wound up back in PET bottles.
“I have heard for a long time that the plant could not meet the specifications for bottles,” said one source.
Sources said the plant had undergone three engineering redesigns in an effort to make its process profitable.
“The technology might have been the best several years ago, but it doesn’t work as well as other technologies with the newer, lightweight bottles,” one source said.
The plant never added the second line that it had planned to bring online by the end of 2009 or early 2010.
Coke’s initial investment in the plant was estimated to be between $45-50m (€31-35m).
One source said the majority of the plant’s output ended up in lower-end fibre and strapping. The source said one Coke bottling plant had two silos worth of output from the plant that was unusable for bottles.
“In the long-run, it has to work in the marketplace,” said one source. “Its failure is kind of a black eye for Coke.”
Coca-Cola still has PET recycling plants in Mexico, France, Austria, Switzerland and the Philippines.
Evonik sells Degussa unitto Rhone Capital
Evonik Industries has agreed to sell its carbon black activities to US venture capital company, Rhone Group, for a sum in excess of €900m. The carbon black business was previously known as Degussa.
Evonik issued a statement saying: “On April 16, 2011, Evonik Industries signed an agreement with affiliates of Rhône Capital to sell its carbon black business, which achieved sales revenues of some €1.2bn in 2010. The transaction is valued in excess of €900m including the assumption of certain obligations.
“Thus, Evonik continues to focus systematically on its core chemical businesses. The closing is subject to approval by Evonik’s Supervisory Board and competent antitrust authorities, and is expected during summer 2011.”
The statement continued: “We are putting the business in good hands. The transaction is good for Evonik, the future of the carbon black business, and its employees.”
Rhône Capital commented: “We are proud to succeed Evonik in stewardship of the Carbon Black franchise. We look forward to building on the foundation of Carbon Black’s globally acclaimed technology platform, valued customer relationships and skilled workforce, to support Carbon Black’s continued worldwide growth.
The carbon black business is being acquired intact as a whole, with its 1,650 employees, some 500 of whom are based in Germany.
SABIC considers second Saudi Kayan HDPE plant
Saudi Arabia-based petrochemical major SABIC is considering building another 300,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at the Saudi Kayan complex in Al-Jubail. The project, if approved, will feed expanding demand from downstream industries in the region -as well as exports -and will double SABIC’s HDPE capacity at the site to 600,000 tonnes/year, according to Khaled al-Mana, the company’s executive vice president for polymers. “We are in the planning process and have no date [forstart-up],” Al-Mana said, adding that SABIC expects to decide later this year whether to proceed.
CB&I wins engineering contract with Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries
CB&I reported that Lummus Technology, a CB&I company, has been awarded a contract from Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. LLP (KPI) for the license and basic engineering of a propane dehydrogenation unit and a polypropylene plant. The two units, each with a design capacity of 500,000 metric tons per annum, are planned as part of KPI’s gas processing complex to be built in the western Atyrau region.
The propane dehydrogenation unit will make use of the CATOFIN® technology for conversion of propane to propylene. The polypropylene plant will use the Novolen® advanced gas-phase polypropylene technology, which will enable KPI to produce a broad range of polypropylene products to meet the needs of both ocal and export markets. Both technologies provide high reliability and easy operability.
Propylene is a building block used to produce a variety of products including polypropylene, a plastic used for household goods.
Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. LLP is a company registered under the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the aim to develop and operate a world-scale gas-to-polymers complex in Western Kazakhstan.
Europe ahead of PVC recycling goals
The European PVC industry today released the final Progress Report on Vinyl 2010 –the 10-year voluntary commitment launched in 2000 to enhance the sustainable production and use of PVC.
The report highlights the advances made by the industry during the past decade in waste management, recycling technologies, stakeholder engagement and responsible use of additives.
Vinyl 2010 has succeeded in meeting or exceeding all of the targets set by the industry in 2000.
As it comes to an end, a new industry commitment towards sustainability will be launched later in 2011, which will require the ongoing support of the PVC value chain and a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sector.
The achievements of Vinyl 2010 are particularly notable when it comes to collection and recycling, according to the report’s authors. In 1999 there was no infrastructure for recycling of PVC in Europe and it was dismissed by many as an unrecyclable material.
Today, the audit results show that in the last year alone, 260,842 metric tons of unregulated post-consumer PVC waste was recycled by Vinyl 2010’s European network. This is well beyond the initial goal of recycling an additional 200,000 metric tons annually by 2010.
Speaking at the launch of the report at PVC 2011 in Brighton, Josef Ertl, Vinyl 2010 chairman, said: “Vinyl 2010 has been a clear success and is a perfect example of industry self-regulation working in practice. It is no exaggeration to say that it has helped to revolutionize the PVC value chain in Europe.
“It has allowed our sector to remain competitive while meeting the needs of society and has significantly enhanced PVC’s credentials and appeal as a material of choice for sustainable purchasing. Along the way, it has also contributed to the creation of a new recycling industry across Europe.”
The final Progress Report also confirms that the phasing out and replacement of certain additives from PVC production is ahead of schedule across the EU.
IPIC to Consolidate Nova and Borealis?
International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC; Abu Dhabi) may be looking to consolidate Nova Chemicals and Borealis, as IPIC focuses on building up the petrochemicals industry in Abu Dhabi. IPIC owns a 64% stake in Borealis, and it bought Nova Chemicals in 2009.
The Abu Dhabi government is planning to invest about $20 billion in petrochemicals via the ChemaWEyaat joint venture, in which IPIC holds a 40% stake
Khadem Al Qubaisi, managing director of IPIC, told the National, a local newspaper, that the company plans to consolidate Nova and Borealis. “In the near term, we’re looking to consolidate the two companies together and bring Nova to Abu Dhabi to do some projects with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and ChemaWEyaat,” he said. IPIC could not be reached for comment on the report.
IPIC seeks to bring Nova Chemicals to Abu Dhabi
International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) is seeking to bring Nova Chemicals to Abu Dhabi, as it switches focus to the domestic petrochemical industry. Abu Dhabi is embarking on a US$20 billion (Dh73.45 bln) investment in petrochemicals by building a chemical city known as ChemaWEyaat in the Western Region. The aim is to add value to the oil and gas industries and diversify the structure of the economy. IPIC is a 40% shareholder in ChemaWEyaat and also owns several other ventures including Nova Chemicals in Canada, which it bought in July 2009, and a 64% stake in Borealis, a chemicals company based in Austria. IPIC plans to consolidate Nova and Borealis. “In the near term, we’re looking to consolidate the two companies together and bring Nova to AbuDhabi to do some projects with Adnoc [the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company] and ChemaWEyaat,” said Mr al Qubaisi.
Natureworks picks Asia for second polylactic acid resin plant location
American bioplastics maker NatureWorks LLC has chosen Asia as the location of its second world-scale manufacturing facility for its Ingeo polylactic acid resin, saying the continent is its fastest-growing sales region.
The Minnetonka-based company has said as far back as NPE 2009 that they had been looking for a second facility, to complement its existing American plant in Blair, Neb., and were considering either Asia or Europe.
NatureWorks is evaluating potential sites in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.The new facility is expected to come on line in the 2015 timeframe, which is later than what the company has said previously. A NatureWorks official said initial plans are for the second plant to have comparable Ingeo capacity of the Blair facility, which has a design capacity of 140,000 metric tons.
In an unrelated late March announcement that it planned to start directly selling its Ingeo packaging resin grades in Taiwan, rather than through an exclusive distributor there, NatureWorks said it planned to announce a location in Asia later this year for its second world-scale Ingeo facility.
Newspapers in Thailand reported in September 2010 that NatureWorks President and CEO Marc Verbruggen said in a visit to the country that Thailand was under consideration for the US$300 million to US$400 million facility, although they also said the company was also considering locations in Europe and South America.
ADM starts bio propylene glycol unit
Archer Daniels Midland Co. has opened a facility for biobased propylene glycol in Decatur.
The facility started operations in late March, according to ADM, and is now producing industrial-grade propylene glycol. The company hopes to increase the plant’s capacity over the next few months, it said in the statement, adding the production of propylene glycol, which meets USP (US Pharmacopeia) specifications.
“When we initially started propylene glycol production at the facility in June 2010, we made high-quality product and gained confidence in our technology. Wealso identified several opportunities to further improve product quality,” said Paul Bloom, business director, Industrial Chemicals.
He added, “We piloted the necessary design modifications, reviewed and updated our operational safety program and then implemented the improvements at scale to bring he facility online in late March. Because ADM is committed to safely producing high-quality, biobased propylene glycol, we took time to ensure our facility was getting the right results, the right way.”
The facility has also produced certified kosher glycerin, which meets USP specifications since April 2009.
Dow to boost ethylene and propylene production
Dow Chemical Co. plans to increase ethylene and propylene production, and integrate its U.S. operations into the expanding supply of natural gas feedstocks from the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shale regions.
“The improved outlook for U.S. natural gas supply from shale brings the prospect of competitively priced ethane and propane feedstocks toDow –and the promise of new manufacturing jobs to America,” said Executive Vice President Jim Fitterling, in a news release.
“Our plan is to further integrate Dow’s businesses with the advantaged feedstocks, based on shale gas deposits and long-term ethane and propane supply agreements.”
The company expects the decision to strengthen the competitiveness of its performance plastics, performance products and advanced materials businesses.
On the ethylene side, the Midland-based company plans to:
• Re-start an ethylene cracker at its St. Charles operations site near Hahnville, La., by the end of 2012;
• Improve ethane feedstock flexibility for an ethylene cracker at its Plaquemine, La., site in 2014;
•Increase ethane feedstock flexibility for an ethylene cracker at its Dow Texas operation in 2016;
• Build a new ethylene production plant in the U.S. Gulf Coast, for start-up in 2017.
•Build a new propylene production facility at its Dow Texas site, for start-up in 2015;
•Explore an option to commercialize its own technology to produce propylene from propane, with the potential start-up of a new production unit in 2018.
Dow also announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a subsidiary of Range Resources Corp. to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ethane from the Marcellus Region in southwest Pennsylvania to Dow’s existing operations in Louisiana.
“All of these invesents, combined with Dow’s planned agreement with Range Resources, will dramatically increase our capability to consume ethane, while maintaining our industry-leading feedstock flexibility,” Fitterling said.
Borealis doubling capacity in Brazil, doubling down on automotive
The polyolefins supplier told PlasticsTodayit intends to double its capacity in Brazil, where it runs two plants in a joint venture with Braskem. In other news, the company is investing in personnel and technology to help increase even more the number of polypropylene applications in automotive, including underhood ones.
Borealis executives Harald Hammer and Jost Laumeyer spoke with PlasticsToday last week during the annual Plastics in Automotive Engineering event organized by the Germans engineers’ association, the VDI, in Mannheim, Germany. Hammer is VP of the supplier’s Mobility business unit; Laumeyer is marketing manager for the same BU.
Hammer said that the Brazilian joint venture, formed in 2001 and 80% owned by Borealis, needs new capacity to meet demands out of many different markets there, including automotive. The supplier has announced a number of expansions in the past years, and one of those, its Borouge 2 plant in the Middle East, recently came online. Borouge is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Borealis; the two began building the Borouge 2 plant in late 2007. The companies also have opened a polyolefins compounding facility in Shanghai, China. In Mannheim, Hammer said material from that facility increasingly is being tapped by domestic Chinese carmakers as these increase their use of plastics in passenger cars and trucks. “In Asia, OEMs are moving very quickly to cut weight and reduce CO2 emissions,” he added.
In 2009 Borouge announced it would build a Borouge 3 plant, scheduled to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2013. The Borouge 2 plant brought Borouge’s polyethylene capacity from 600,000 tonnes/yr to about 2 million tonnes/yr.
Hammer and Laumeyer spoke mostly about the company’s polypropylene, and especially how their company is keen to get PP considered for applications currently dominated by engineering thermoplastic such as polyamide or PC/ABS. “We don’t want to play n the (PP) mass market,” explained Hammer. “Our strategy is to supply material for engineered polypropylene parts.” The company’s stand at the Mannheim event included the first air intake manifold (AIM) injection molded of PP, which is now fitted to all 1.4 and 1.6 liter engines on Volkswagen Golf, Seat and Skoda models. Also on stand was a Volkswagen Touareg bumper fascia, molded using Borealis’ Daplen VB4411 grade.
Borealis displayed the AIM at the VDI event in 2010 but Laumeyer said it was appropriate to do so again this year. “”The air intake manifold is turning into a global application,” he explained. Though most attendees to the VDI event are from the home country’s automotive industry, this year saw an increase in the number of North American visitors, and there also were a few from Asia’s markets. The conference is translated simultaneously German/English. “We want to replace more underhood parts, both metal ones and other plastics,” added Hammer. He said PP’s biggest advantage is its low density, which helps carmakers hit their targets for light weighting and the resultant drop in carbon dioxide emissions over a vehicle’s life. Another key argument is PP’s low cost, which he said remains very competitive despite the run-up in prices in the last 6 months. “For us, PP belongs to the ETP (engineering thermoplastics) family,” said Hammer. The supplier is investing €70million in a line at its facility in Linz, Austria to help it develop new grades more quickly, and also investing in a technical center at its Borouge site in Abu Dhabi.
Lanxess to Expand Performance Rubber Capacity at Orange, TX
Lanxess says it will invest €10 million ($14.4 million) to expand solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) and neodymium polybutadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) capacity at its Orange, TX site by 20,000 m.t./year. Completion is expected by the third quarter of 2012. The site already has the capacity to produce about 25,000 m.t./year of SSBR and about 250,000 m.t./year of Nd-PBR.
“This additional capacity will serve the global demand for high performance rubber, which is expected to grow annually by close to 10% inthe coming years,” says Joachim Grub, global head of performance butadiene rubber, at Lanxess. “Without this capacity expansion, there would be a worldwide product shortage for this type of material by 2014.”
The company recently completed a debottlenecking project at its Orange facility that increased Nd-PBR capacity by 15,000 m.t./year. That capacity expansion is part of a €20 million ($28.8 million) investment to increase production of Nd-PBR by 50,000 m.t./year at Lanxess’s facilities at Orange; Dormagen, Germany; and Cabo, Brazil. The additional capacities in Germany and Brazil are expected to come onstream by the first quarter of 2012. These expansions will also lead to an indirect increase in SSBR capacities at the company’s site in Port Jérôme, France, the company says.
The company announced earlier this week that work had begun to increase production of hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) by 40% through expansions at Orange and Dormagen. Lanxess says it will invest a low single-digit million euro amount in the expansions that will create 15 new jobs, five of which will be in Orange. Another investment at Orange led to a new butadiene rail tank car unloading station being built. The station gives the site greater flexibility to receive butadiene, providing access to material that cannot be delivered via pipeline and strengthening the supply chain of a key raw material.
Demand for high performance rubber is being driven by greater mobility, especially in Asia, as well as motorists who are demanding higher environmental and safety standards in performance tires, Lanxess says. Also driving demand is a European Union regulation that requires new tires sold in Europe to be labeled for fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise by November 2012. Meanwhile, Japanese tire manufacturers voluntarily introduced tire labeling at the start of 2010, and the U.S. is evaluating similar labeling regulations. “The aim of these programs is to reduce carbon dioxide and noise emissions by promoting green tires that do not compromise on safety, as well as aiding consumers in their purchase decisions,” Lanxess says.
Lanxess Expands Rubber Capacity in Germany and U.S.
Lanxess says it will expand capacity for hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) at Orange, TX and Leverkusen by 40%. The company markets HNBR under the Therban brand name. Lanxess says it will invest “a low single-digit million euro amount” in the expansion.
Work on the expansion has begun at both sites. The Leverkusen project is due for completion in April 2012 and the expansion at Orange is scheduled to be completed by December 2012. Currentcapacities were not disclosed.
The HNBR market is growing at double-digit rates annually, Lanxess says. This is due in particular to strong demand from car manufacturers, especially in China and India.
Mitsubishi Chemical Announces Plan to Restart Kashima Crackers
Mitsubishi Chemical says that one of the two steam crackers at the company’s manufacturing complex at Kashima, Japan will restart by May 20, 2011. The complex’s other cracker is expected to restart by June 27, 2011. The Kashima site, including onsite power-generation facilities, were shut following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11. The Kashima complex is in Ibaraki prefecture, to the east of Tokyo. The Kashima crackers have combined capacity for about 830,000 m.t./year of ethylene. Japan’s total ethylene capacity is 7.79 million m.t./year, according to SRI Consulting (Tokyo).
“As a portion of our on-site power generation capacity has been restored, we have begun detailed inspection of our entire production facility, as well as repair work where necessary. The repair of harbor facilities, which were damaged by the tsunami, is also going ahead,” Mitsubishi says. “We are working towards reopening the Kashima No.2 ethylene production facility by around May 20. Part of the polypropylene and polyethylene lines should also be operable by the time the No.2 ethylene production facility goes back online.”
The Kashima No.1 ethylene production facility is scheduled to go back online on June 27, soon after its legally required turnaround starting May 14 is completed, Mitsubishi says.
Once the No.1 production facility goes back online, the remaining polypropylene, polyethylene, bisphenol A, ethylene oxide, and other derivatives, will go back online, Mitsubishi says.
Mitsubishi’s production facilities at Tsukuba and at Odawara were also shut down following the earthquake. At Tsukuba, those facilities that were determines to be safe were restarted last month. And the remaining production facilities will be restarted on April 11, the company says.
By March 23, all production facilities at Odawara were restarted.
Chemtura Plans to Accelerate Growth in India
Chemturaplans to accelerate the company’s growth in India as well as the Asia/Pacific region during the next few years, Craig Rogerson, CEO of Chemtura told delegates at the Chemical Weekly 12th Annual Business Outlook Conference held in Mumbai today. The sales from the Asia/Pacific region accounted for about 19% of the company’s total global sales in 2010. This share will rise to about 33% by 2015, Rogerson says. And the capital expenditure in Asia will increase to one-third of the corporate spend. Growth in the region is driven by China and India, he says.
Chemtura says it will aim to grow all its businesses in India. There are numerous business opportunities in the automotive industry in India, Rogerson says. There is also emerging demand for flame retardants for the building & construction, electronics, and automotive industries; air pollution neutralizers for coal-fired boilers; polyalphaolefins for wind turbine systems; refrigeration oils; and organometallic specialties growth focus will include polyolefin co-catalysts, active pharmaceutical ingredients, photovoltaics, and optoelectronics.
The polymer market in India is expected to grow 7%/year-8%/year; the pharma market in India is expected to grow at 15%-20% annually; and the urethane market is expected to grow at 20%-25% over the next five years, Chemtura says.
“India is lagging behind other countries in the area of fire safety. Increased development and enforcement of fire safety standards by the Indian government can provide tremendous upside growth for flame retardant consumption. The average growth rate for flame retardants in India will be about 9%/year from 2009-2014,” Rogerson says.
Chemtura says that flame retardants for the building & construction, electronics, and automotive industries offer a lot of opportunities for the company in India. India is the second largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world, and the seventh largest manufacturer of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, and the auto industry in India is expected to grow at about 15%-17% in 2011-2012. The current size of the electronics market in India is about $2 billion and it is expected to grow to about $4.5 billion by the end of 2011.
Chemtura plans to grow its business in the region through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, building new production capacity, and expanding existing capacity.
BASF Opens Polyurethane System House in Dubai
BASF says it has opened a new Polyurethane (PU) Solutions System House at the company’s new site at the Dubai Industrial City in Dubai.
“With this new system house we have created best conditions for further success in the rapidly growing market for polyurethane applications in the Arabian Peninsula,” says Uwe Hartwig, senior v.p./BASF Polyurethanes Europe. “Like all our system houses, Dubai will not only have local sales and production units, but it will also provide customers with technical services.”
BASF strengthened its business with polyurethane customers in the Gulf region in 2008 by setting up a joint venture company. BASF and the Kanoo Group (Manama, Bahrain) formed a PU systems joint venture in Dubai in 2008. The jv, which is owned 51% by Kanoo and 49% by BASF, acquired the PU business of Multi Chemical (Abu Dhabi).
“We are committed to continue our cooperation with BASF in the polyurethane segment and we are proud of the realization of this new system house as integral part of a joint growth strategy in the Gulf region,” says Mishal Hamed Kanoo, deputy chairman of the Kanoo group
Styron to Build Latex Production Unit at Zhangjiagang, China
Styron says it will expand latex capacity in Zhangjiagang, China, adding a fourth reactorat the site. The unit is expected to start production in fourth-quarter 2012.
“This fourth unit will have the capability to produce all kinds of latexes,” says Marco Levi, v.p./emulsion polymers for Styron. The company’s existing production at Zhangjiagang primarily targets styrene-butadiene (SB) latexes used in paper coatings, but the new unit will have capability to produce SB latex for carpet backing and modified performance latexes for specialty applications, Levi says. Latex markets in China are growing 6%-7%/year, driven by strong demand for paper. Styron continues to capture supply relationships at more than 75% of new paper start-ups andstrong growth should continue.
The additional China reactor places company in a strong position to capture non-paper applications as well going forward, Levi says. Construction and consumer markets in China are upgrading to higher-value uses, Levi says. “Demand from the carpet market in China is still to come,” Levi says. “The baseline is close to zero and the potential is tremendous.”
Asia Polymer Corp to invest in EVA plant in Kaohsiung County
Asia Polymer Corp. (a member of the USI Far East Group) plans to increase output of the high-margin EVA (ethylenevinyleacetate). The company plans to invest NT$4-5 billion(USD 140 –150 million)to build a new plant in Kaohsiung County with annual capacity of 120KTA.
Taiwan’s sixth naphtha cracker is scheduled for completion in the beginning of 2013 by the state-run CPCCorp. Asia Polymer can generate another NT$10 billion(USD 340 million)in annual sales based on the current average selling price of EVA. Foam-grade EVA sells at USD 2,900 with gross profit reaching USD 1,400/ton. Strong demand from China`s downstream industry has propped average selling price of EVA since H2-10 by 70% to between USD 2850-2950 from the earlier USD 1700/ton.
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