320,000 tonne/y to 860,000 tonne/y.IPCL currently leads the market inIndia for polyethylene. Reliance willincrease its share of the poly-propylene market from 70.58% to84.55%, with capacity rising from960,000 tonne/y to 1.15 M tonne/y.The increase in the PVC market willbe much larger – from 34.65% to60.97%, with capacity increasing from270,000 tonne/y to 475,000 tonne/y. Itwill lift its share of the ethylene oxidemarket from 51.54% to 77.32%, withcapacity rising from 50,000 tonne/y to75,000 tonne/y. New areas in whichReliance will now operate includeLDPE, chlor-alkali, acrylonitrile,acrylic fibre, polybutadiene rubber,catalysts and absorbents.

Asian Chemical News, 27 May 2002, 8 (358), 11

Oxychem losses in 2002

Oxychem, the chemicals division ofOccidental Chemical, made a loss of$35 M on sales that fell 32% to $588M in 1Q 2002. The poor performancewas blamed on declines at itsEquistar joint venture. Sales of PVC,chlorine and caustic soda fell to $863M. Oxychem is expected to sell its29.5% stake in Equistar to Lyondellfor $440 M in late 2002.

Asian Chemical News, 6 May 2002, 8 (356), 6

EVC to stop licensing its PVCtechnology

It is reported that EVC, Europe’sbiggest PVC producer, has decided tocease licensing its PVC technology,including projects relating to pre-cursor chemicals. The source saysEVC is no longer seeking newlicensing opportunities becauseprevious contracts have not beensufficiently profitable to cover technicalback-up fully. The technical resourcesof the company are thought to bebetter directed to EVC’s own needs.Existing contracts are not affected.

Chemical Week, 29 May 2002,164 (22), 16

Sumitomo Corp to make high-qualityfilm in China

In Jul 2002, Sumitomo Corp, which hasacquired a 25% interest in a subsidiaryof a Chinese plastic film manufacturer,will start to produce high-quality vinylchloride film for use in consumer

electronics, building materials andother products. Sumitomo expectsdemand for the material to grow inChina, as consumption expands, andestimates latent demand for semi-hard film at 100,000-150,000tonnes/y. The Chinese plant willproduce 20,000 tonnes/y of the film,and by the third year of operation,Sumitomo is targeting sales of Yen 3bn/y from the operation.

Nikkei Net, 5 Jun 2002 (Website:http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/)

Toray examines revamp options

As part of its restructuring, TorayIndustries plans to reduce the numberof its domestic subsidiaries from 180to 80 by 2005. The company’s 200-plus overseas subsidiaries are notaffected. In May 2002, the companywill spin off its subsidiary Toray FineChemicals (formed on 1 Apr 2002 bythe merger of Toray Thiokol and TorayFine Chemicals). Toray is expected tobid for the polyester facilities ofSaehan Industries. In Japan, demandfor ethylene glycol showed a double-digit decline in 2001, and demand forpetrochemicals was expected toremain flat for 2001 and 2002 anddecline in 2003. In 2001, net exportsof polyethylene, polypropylene, andPVC were 1.57 M tonnes (-35% onprevious year).

Asian Chemical News, 15 Apr 2002, 8 (353), 8

Shinagawa Chemical acquiresAustralian PVC stabiliser business

Shinagawa Chemical Industry haspurchased the resin additives unit ofFerro Australia, a West Footscray,Victoria-based company. Thepurchase deal includes productionfacilities for metal soaps and PVCstabilisers. Production capacity formetal soaps will be increased to 5000tons/y in Singapore, bringing metalsoap capacity to 28,000 tons/y. Totalgroup capacity for PVC stabilisers isexpected to increase to 54,200 tons/y.The company also intends toestablish two additional offshore sitesfor PVC stabilisers by the end of 2002in an effort to become one of the topsuppliers of resin additives in theworld. The West Footscray facility has5000 tons/y capacity for calcium-zincPVC stabilisers, 1200 tons/y for liquidmulti-component PVC stabiliser packs

and 5000 tons/y for metal soaps. Thepurchase also represents ShinagawaChemical’s second production facilityin Australia. It also indicates the firsttime the company enters the liquidstabiliser market. The company aimsto become an active player inapplications focusing on flexible PVCfilms resulting from its full-fledgedentry. It also has the capacity to boostsales in the polyolefin polymerisationcoatings and cosmetics marketsthrough its metal soaps facility inMalaysia and Singapore as well as anadditional plant in Australia.

Japan Chemical Week, 23 May 2002, 43 (2172), 4

LG Chem bucks the trend in 1Q 2002with higher operating profits

Operating profits of LG Chem rose by39% in 1Q 2002 to Won 146 bn onnet sales of Won 1.26 trillion, up 12%.Industrial Materials and Informationand Electronic Materials are amongthe highly profitable sectors where thecompany achieved higher sales.Higher prices of PVC and ABS alsocontributed to the results.

Asian Chemical News, 29 Apr 2002, 8 (355), 6

Sabic in discussions on Sinopecstakes

Sabic is in talks with Sinopec regardingthe possible acquisition of some of thelatter’s assets. Sabic recently acquiredDSM Petrochemicals. One possibletarget is Qilu Petrochemical. Thiscompany is currently making a seriesof capacity expansions in Zibo, China,including PVC (230,000 to 610,000tonnes/y). The need to find a marketfor its ethylene dichloride was one ofthe drivers for Sabic taking a stake inthe Dalian-Shide PVC-VCM complex atDalian, China. The project comprises490,000 tonnes/y vinyl chloride and500,000 tonnes/y PVC, and is dueonstream in 2005.

Asian Chemical News, 15 Apr 2002, 8 (353), 9

Singapore: Itochu to expand syntheticresin offshore trading

Itochu Plastics (Ciplas) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Itochu Corp,based in Singapore. The companyhas taken over offshore trading of thecompany’s polyolefins. Trading willalso be started in PVC. Ciplas will

JULY 2002 3

F O C U S O N P O L Y V I N Y L C H L O R I D E