received fresh support from MrMichael Vetha Siromony, who will takeover as Managing Director from MrTom Jose, effective 19 July 2013.

Original Source: Business Line, 22 Jun 2013, 20(173), 15 (Website:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/) © The HinduBusiness Line 2013

India: UPL – ultramarine, bismuthvanadate, cobalt aluminate &surfactants

Ultramarine & Pigments Ltd (UPL)plans to establish a third chemicalcomplex on a greenfields site at Dahej(Gujarat province). The companyalready has two chemical complexesin Tamil Nadu province, one in theAmbattur district of Chennai, the otherin the Sipcot district of Ranipet. Bothsites house ultramarine pigmentplants and the Ranipet site also hasplants making bismuth vanadateyellow and cobalt aluminate blue. Thecompany moved into the surfactantsbusiness in 1973 and this has nowbecome the major focus of thecompany’s activities. UPL reportedtotal sales revenue at around $23 Mfor the latest fiscal year, with therevenue breakdown as: 50% fromsurfactants, 25% from pigments and25% from other activities, includingwind-power generation andinformation technology services.

The first facilities to be established atthe new Dahej complex will be for themanufacture of speciality surfactants,designed for use in shampoos,toothpastes and liquid detergents.These facilities should come on-streamin 2015. Hindustan Unilever is already amajor customer for UPL’s surfactantsproduced in Tamil Nadu and thiscompany is expected to account forabout 30% of the surfactants outputgenerated at Dahej. Initial investment inthe Dahej project has been budgeted atRup 420 M (equivalent to $7.1 M),which will be financed from internalreserves and debt. Mr RangaswamySampath (Managing Director of UPL)said: “Our company has an unusedland bank of more than 150 acres (61hectares) in Tamil Nadu, part of whichcould be monetised to repay theborrowings by the time the Dahejproject commissions.”

Original Source: Chemical Weekly, 28 May 2013, 150(Website: http://www.chemicalweekly.com/) © SevakPublications & Chemical Weekly Database P Ltd 2013

Malaysia: Cabot – carbon black

Cabot Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CMSB) willshut down its 80,000 tonnes/y carbonblack plant at Port Dickson at the endof July 2013. The plant is owned 51%by Cabot Corp (of the US) and 49%by the Malaysian Government andvarious Malaysian private investors. Itis located in Negeri Simbilan provinceon the west coast of Malaysia.Production inefficiencies and risingraw material costs were cited as themajor reasons for the closuredecision, which will entail the loss of90 jobs. The cost of shutting down thisplant has been assessed at $28 M,which will be booked as a $13 M cashcharge plus a $15 M non-cash chargeagainst 2013 profits. Savings resultingfrom this move are estimated at $7 Mper year. Meanwhile, Cabot willcontinue to operate a separate plantat the Port Dickson site, producingelastomer composites.

Cabot’s carbon black customers inthe Asia/Pacific region will continue tobe supplied from the company’s otherseven plants in the region, two inIndonesia, two in China, two in Japanand one in India.

Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 7 May 2013,(633), (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie) (in French) © ETAI Information 2013

Russia: NorthWestern Ecotechnologies– carbon black from scrap tyres

NorthWestern Ecotechnologies plansto set up a network of tyre recyclingplants across Russia. The first ofthese plants will be sited in theVyborgsky district of Leningrad oblast.About Rbl 100 M (roughly $3 M) willbe invested in the installation of aplant here, employing a pyrolysisprocess designed to process 6000tonnes/y of scrap tyres to producepyrolysis oil and carbon black asmarketable products.

Original Source: RCCnews, 30 Apr 2013, (Website:http://www.rccnews.ru/eng) © RCCnews.ru 2013

Saudi Arabia: Al-Jazeera Paints & Al-Sorayai – calcium carbonate

Al-Jazeera Paints Co (of KhamisMushayt, 670 km southeast ofJeddah) and the Al-Sorayai grouphave signed a memorandum ofunderstanding for a joint venture tobuild and operate a calcium carbonateplant in Jeddah. The plant is expected

to come on-stream in 3Q 2014. Asyet, no details have been released asto the scale of the plant or as to thebudgeted capital cost.

Original Source: Al-Jazeera Paints Co, PO Box 1900,Khamis Mushayt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, tel: +9667221 1111 (5 Jul 2013) © Al-Jazeera Paints Co 2013

Ukraine: Krymsky Titan – TiO2

In November 2011, Mr Dmitry Firtash(Chairman of Group DF) announcedthat he planned to invest $250 M todouble the capacity of the ArmyanskTiO2 pigment plant of Krymsky Titan.The budget for this project has nowbeen raised to $300 M. Mr Firtashrecently confirmed that a feasibilitystudy for the expansion is nearingcompletion and construction workshould begin during the second half ofthis year, with the additional capacitycoming on-stream during 2015. HatchEngineering (of Canada) and TZMI (ofAustralia) were the main consultantsfor the feasibility study. Mr Firtashsaid: “We are planning to produce240,000 tonnes/y of TiO2, which willbe about 4% of the total globalmarket.” To cater for the anticipatedadditional acid requirements, KrymskyTitan has already increased itssulfuric acid capacity at Armyansk to600,000 tonnes/y. Construction workon the acid expansion project wascommenced in September 2008 andcompletion was marked by an officialinauguration ceremony on 27 April2012, attended by the PresidentViktor Yanukovych.

In 2012, Krymsky Titan produced106,330 tonnes of TiO2 pigment,compared against 108,069 tonnes in2011 and 105,681 tonnes in 2010.The second producer in Ukraine –Khimpromy Sumy – reported output at39,310 tonnes for 2012, versus45,700 tonnes for 2011. TotalUkrainian output was 145,640 tonnesin 2012, representing a drop of 5.5%on the previous year.

Ukraine’s TiO2 pigment exportsdropped from 138,000 tonnes in 2011to 135,000 tonnes in 2012. Russia,Germany and Turkey were once againthe main destinations for Ukrainianexports. Imports into the Ukraine fellfrom 7150 tonnes in 2011 to 6500tonnes in 2012. Domestic TiO2pigment sales fell by 25% to reach16,400 tonnes in 2012.

Prior to December 2012, GroupDF’s shareholding in Krymsky Titan

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