ICIS - Search Articles by Date : September 20 2004 - September 26 2004

Dire words from Cefic’s Perroy
Europe’s share of world chemicals production may halve by 2015, compared with ten years ago, Alain Perroy, director general of Cefic, warned at an.... more
(20 September 2004 10:48)

Avecia sell-offs are considered
Avecia hopes to sell its NeoResins business and Covion Organic Semiconductors unit and has retained Goldman Sachs to find buyers, according to.... more
(20 September 2004 10:47)

Linseed Oil Price Climbs On Low Supply and Strong Demand
A delayed flaxseed harvest in Canada, combined with global short stocks of flax and strong demand for linseed oil, has propelled linseed oil prices.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Oils Spot Prices
LATE SPOT PRICES more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Jobs and People
Paul B. Bennett more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Petrochemicals in Brief
BASF has increased its prices for engine coolants worldwide. The company says the price increase has become necessary due to the dramatic increase,.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Pharmaceuticals in Brief
ACAMBIS PLC has completed reviewing data from two Phase III trials of its second-generation smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000. The drug had been placed on.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Titanium Dioxide Market Strengthens Sharply
The titanium dioxide (TiO2) mar-ket is strengthening. Producers are raising prices, older capacity is being rationalized, and operating rates are.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Information Insights: Chemical Industry IT Spending Expected to Rise in 2005
While growth in spending on information technology (IT)was relatively flat in 2004 among process manufacturers, in-cluding chemicals, spending is.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

IBM Moves Forward With Grid Computing
Targeting the emerging market for grid computing, IBM has announced several new major grid computing projects, including ones with the Environmental.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Syngenta and Clariant Sell SF-Chem for $64 Million
Syngenta and Clariant are selling Pratteln, Switzerland-based SF-Chem to the Zurich-based private equity firm Capvis for SFr 81 million ($64 million).... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Tantalum Deliveries to Continue Despite SOG Bankruptcy
Although the world’s largest tantalum miner has filed for bankruptcy, it says that there will be no disruption of service. more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Specialties Pricing
Akzo Nobel Polymer Chemicals LLC, as of October 1, is increasing the price for the following Trigonox organic peroxides in North America: 197-C75 by.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

Industry Calls for Congress to Halt EU Tariffs
With time running out on the 108th Congress and with European Union (EU) tariffs on US exports increasing, industry officials are calling on.... more
(24 September 2004 18:47)

PP and PE imports to China surge in H1
CHINA’s imports of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) increased significantly in the first seven months of 2004, compared with the same period.... more
(20 September 2004 10:58)

Hualian to join hands with Zongheng on PTA
ZHEJIANG Hualian Sunshine Petrochemical and Zhejiang Zongheng Textile Group are to jointly pursue a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) project in China. more
(20 September 2004 10:59)

Jiuda to produce 1mtpa PET chips
SHENYANG Jiuda Group Co is to produce 1m tonne/year of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips in the Shenyang Economic and Technology Development.... more
(20 September 2004 11:01)

China eases approval process
CHINA’s State Council has streamlined the approval procedures for project investments. more
(20 September 2004 10:56)

PPTA earnings turnaround on higher prices
PAKISTAN PTA (PPTA) saw a dramatic turaround in net profit in the first half of this year, a company source told ACN. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Specialities roundup
SYNGENTA has succeeded in its patent-infringement suit against Yancheng Luye Chemical and Yancheng Yongli Chemical, receiving a settlement.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

CMO eyes 390% net-profit increase
CHI Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) is targeting a 390% jump in net profit for this year to NT$30.1bn (US$888.5m), from NT$7.74bn in 2003, a company source.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Market Trends: SBR sways butadiene
Falling rubber prices cause butadiene figures to slip. But surging crude values see naphtha MoPJ sales rise, while unsold cargoes dampen ethylene more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

A dark course?
An increase in freight rates and a return to profitable times during the past 12 months have been welcome developments for the shipping industry. But.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

On a bumpy road
Obstacles stood in the way of the Secco cracker complex being built in Shanghai. However, the worldscale project is on track to start up its.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Seeking a share
Ten years after conception, the BASF-YPC project is finally near completion. But new challenges are on the horizon. Prema Viswanathan and Florence.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Global roundup
From stories supplied by the CNI and ACN teams. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Market Trends: Paraxylene builds up
But benzene declines as US spot prices soften, while toluene remains stable and styrene firms up in response to Chinese inventory demand more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Indian soda ash margins squeezed
SODA ash producers in India were expecting prices to rise further in Q4, on the back of strong demand and tight supply. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

VCM price up as shortfall looms
ASIAN vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) producers were banking on tight supply and high feedstock costs to keep prices firm in the next four weeks.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Cangzhou Dahua, Chematur to form TDI jv
CHEMATUR Engineering and Hebei Cangzhou Dahua Group are to form a joint venture for the latter’s 50 000 tonne/year toluene diisocyanate (TDI) project.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Qinghai Alkali builds soda ash unit
QINGHAI Alkali Industrial Co is building a 900 000 tonne/year soda ash plant in Delingha Industrial Zone, Haixi, Qinghai, China. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Blue Star mulls CPP
CHINA National Blue Star (Group) Corp is mulling building a catalytic pyrolysis process (CPP) unit at its refinery in Tianjin, China, a company.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Brunei appoints methanol investors
THE Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) has selected a consortium formed by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) and Itochu Corp for a 2500 tonne/day.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

BP outlines Newco structure
THE structure of Newco became clear last week. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

China imports more ABS but less polystyrene
CHINA’s imports of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) rose by 6.85% in the first six months of 2004, compared with the same period in 2003,.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Business in brief
Goodyear jobs go Goodyear Tire & Rubber will lose 8% of its chemical business workforce – about 100 jobs – by the end of 2004. The.... more
(20 September 2004 10:39)

Bisphenol A prices stay strong
Bisphenol A (BPA) prices are continuing their upward climb in September, with sellers expecting to see hikes of up to €150/tonne. more
(20 September 2004 10:50)

Sellers push for MDI hike in response to demand
Europe’s methylene di-p-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) sellers continue to push for higher prices in September and into October. more
(20 September 2004 10:49)

PQU deal seals expansion
Brazil’s Petroquímica União (PQU) is preparing a $160m expansion of its ethylene capacity after securing a feedstock supply agreement with.... more
(20 September 2004 10:50)

Uhde to supply EDC plant with new reactor process
Uhde has been awarded a contract by Limburgse Vinyl Maatschappij for a new ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant in Tessenderlo, Belgium. more
(20 September 2004 10:49)

Out of control?
The upwardly spiralling prices of raw materials are pressurising margins along the chain. Jane Gibson and Andy Brice discover that monthly contracts.... more
(20 September 2004 08:50)

Clariant 20% stake offer to re-commence
Clariant will re-launch its suspended public offer to buy a further 20% stake in Indian associate Colour-Chem on 3 November. In a complex deal,.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Indian exchange defers futures
India’s National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) is delaying the launch of its polymers futures contracts to November or December, from an.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Avoiding conflict is in Reach
‘We must avoid conflict re-emerging between economic and environmental interests, especially on Reach,’ Pieter Van Geel, the Netherlands environment.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Syngenta wins its patent battle
Syngenta has won its patent infringement suit against China’s Yancheng Luye Chemical and Yancheng Yongli Chemical, receiving a settlement backed by.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Explosion theory overruled
The fatal 2001 explosion at Atofina’s Grande Paroisse site in Toulouse, France, was caused by an accidental mixture of chlorine derivatives and.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

East German sales set pace for country
Sales growth in the eastern German chemical industry outpaced the country as a whole in the first half of 2004, said Landesverband Nordost, the.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Sale of DNK plastics unit falls through
Plans by German chemical and engineering group MG Technologies to sell its plastics processing subsidiary Dynamit Nobel Kunststoff (DNK) to US.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

Degussa UK admits price fixing
Degussa confirmed last week that Degussa UK Holdings has pleaded guilty to fixing prices in the organic peroxides markets in the late 1990s and has.... more
(24 September 2004 18:45)

SF-Chem in management buy-out
A Swiss private-equity firm, together with the management, is acquiring SF-Chem. more
(24 September 2004 18:45)