By Malini Hariharan It is the results season and numbers posted so far confirm that the last quarter has been rough with depressed demand, weak product prices and firm feedstock costs affecting earnings. Siam Cement Group’s EBITDA for the chemicals division dropped 25% in Q4 from the previous quarter, while sales revenue declined by 5%. […]
Asian Chemical Connections
PTT Global’s latest buy and Siam Cement’s Indonesia plan
By Malini Hariharan There have been no headline-grabbing deals but bit by bit PTT Global Chemical is extending its business beyond Asia and entering new product areas. Yesterday, PTT Global announced plans for a joint venture with Perstorp Holding France in toluene diisocyanate (TDI), aliphatic isocynates such as hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and derivatives. PTT Global […]
Siam Cement set for next Indonesian buy
By Malini Hariharan After picking up a 30% stake in Chandra Asri, the Siam Cement Group (SCG) is looking to seal its next Indonesian buy. Two companies, SCG and Japan’s Itochu Corp, are reported to have advanced to the second round of bidding for chlor-alkali and vinyls producer Sulfindo Adisuha. The deal is expected to […]
Siam Cement eyes big Indonesian buy
By Malini Hariharan Confirmation has come in from the Siam Cement Group (SCG) that it is in the race to acquire stakes in two Indonesian companies – Chandra Asri and Sulfindo Adiusaha. “We are interested in both firms in Indonesia as petrochemicals are SCG’s core business. But we cannot disclose anything at the moment because […]
Chandra Asri stake up for sale?
By Malini Hariharan Indonesia’s sole cracker operator Chandra Asri faces yet another ownership change with Singapore’s Temasek Holding reported to be looking at divesting its stake in the company. The news report in the Wall Street Journal said several companies from Thailand, South Korea and Japan have shown interest in Temasek’s stake, including Thailand’s PTT […]
Consolidation Thai style
By Malini Hariharan The long-awaited merger between PTT Chem and PTT Aromatics (PTTAR) was finally announced last week. A presentation made to financial analysts gave details on what the merged entity will look like, planned synergies and opportunities for growth. The new company with a total petrochemical capacity of 8.261m tonnes/year and petroleum products capacity […]
Chinaplas: Optimism, consolidation, new plant start-ups and more
By Malini Hariharan Chinaplas has just concluded and my colleagues have filed some great reports from Shanghai. Worries about a margin squeeze in the second half of the year persist but polymer producers seem to be increasingly confident about long-term growth prospects. The chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) talked of the […]
Map Ta Phut pressure mounts
By Malini Hariharan PTT Chem is likely to miss its revenue growth target of 20% this year because of the Map Ta Phut crisis. The company had set a 2010 revenue target of about Baht100bn (US$3bn), up from Baht80bn in 2009, reports the Bangkok Post. As reported by this blog last month, suspension of parent […]
Map Ta Phut impasse continues
By Malini Hariharan There is no light yet for companies whose projects have been suspended at Map Ta Phut. Last Friday, Thailand’s Central Administrative Court rejected 30 petitions submitted by companies looking to resume work as their projects had received environmental clearance and would not create pollution. “The outlook is not promising,” says a Bangkok-based […]
Map Ta Phut work stops but no clarity on when crisis will be resolved.
By Malini Hariharan Companies executing projects at Map Ta Phut in Thailand have finally received a notice from the government to stop construction work. The notice comes after the Thai Supreme court’s ruling in early December to suspend 65 projects on environmental concerns. Mitsubishi Rayon has confirmed it has stopped work at its 90,000 tonnes/year […]
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