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China: Nippon Steel Chemical, Sojitz, Yizhou & Koppers – carbon black
FOCUS China’s housing boom fails to stimulate DIY painting The Chinese Government’s Five Year Plan includes a commitment to build 30 M new “affordable housing units” by the end of 2015 and this should support the ongoing rapid growth in architectural paints consumption. However, the earlier anticipated enthusiasm for a do-it-yourself (DIY) decorating boom seems to have evaporated. Home Depot, the largest DIY retail chain in North America, entered the Chinese market in December 2006, with the acquisition of the HomeWay group, with 12 retail outlets and annual revenues of more than $650 M. At that time, Mr Bob Nardelli (CEO of Home Depot) assessed the Chinese home improvement market as worth $50 bn. Over the past two years, Home Depot has shut down its outlets in Beijing, Qingdao and Shenyang, leaving only seven outlets in China – four in Tianjin, two in Xi’an and one in Zhengzhou. Meanwhile, the Kingfisher group (which owns the B&Q, Castorama and Koctas retail chains in Europe) opened its first DIY store in China in 2002 but has only recently become fully profitable. Also, the group has apparently downsized its stores in the Beijing area. By contrast, business is booming for local decorating firms, such as Dongyi Risheng Decoration Co and Beijing Longfa Architectural Decoration Co, which cater for the growing sector of middle-class homeowners. These firms supply painting services on an all-in basis (materials plus labour), typically quoting Rmb 20-40 per ping (a local unit of measurement, equivalent to 3.345 sq m). That equates to $0.901.80 per sq m of painted surface, the price being mainly dependent on the type of paint specified. According to Mr Keith Nuthall (the author of this survey), the customers of Donyi Risheng, Beijing Longfa and similar firms tend to specify well-known global brands of paint from AkzoNobel, Tikkurila and other multinationals rather than local Chinese brands, mainly because of perceived product consistency and durability. Original Source: APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Dec 2011/Jan 2012, 24 (6 (China Country Focus)), 1-2 (Website: http://www.asiapacificcoatingsjournal.com/) © Quartz Business Media Ltd 2012
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PLANTS Canada, Hungary & Spain: Aditya Birla – carbon black Columbian Chemicals is now a division of Birla Carbon, following the completion of the $875 M acquisition by the Aditya Birla group last June. (See ‘Focus on Pigments’, Sep 2011, 6). Effective 1 January 2012, Birla Carbon was established to coordinate the group’s worldwide carbon black activities, with Dr Santrupt Misra as Chief Executive Officer. Mr Kevin Boyle, who was previously CEO at Columbian, became Chief Operating Officer for Birla Carbon. Mr Surendra Goyal was appointed as Chief Financial Officer. Mr Madhurima Gupta was appointed as Chief Sourcing & Procurement Officer. Birla Carbon generates annual revenues of around $2 bn and its global carbon black capacity is around 2 M tonnes/y. Expansions are already underway at several of the plants inherited as part of the Columbian Chemicals acquisition. Debottlenecking will increase Birla’s total European capacity by at least 30,000 tonnes/y by the end of March 2012. The main plants affected will be the 60,000 tonnes/y plant at Santander (Spain) and the 106,000 tonnes/y plant at Tiszjauvaros (Hungary). In Canada, Birla has begun work on a 50% expansion at its Hamilton, ON plant, raising capacity here to 135,000 tonnes/y. In addition, the company is installing a facility described as “an energy centre designed to leverage efficiencies of the plant to supply electricity for both internal and external uses.” Presumably, this means a power cogeneration facility. No details were released as to the target completion date. Mr John Loudermilk (President, North America) said: “Major global tyre manufacturers have announced substantial expansion programmes in North America, driving expected demand growth for carbon black beyond current production capacity within the region. Birla Carbon is committed to supporting our customers’ growth plans. The Hamilton plant’s outstanding history of producing worldclass products, the proximity to our customer base, and
the excellent talent pool in the Ontario region position us well to provide that support.” Original Source: European Rubber Journal, 23 Jan 2012, (Website: http://www.european-rubberjournal.com/) © Crain Communications Ltd 2012 & Press Release from: Aditya Birla Management Corp Pvte Ltd, Worli, Mumbai 400030, India, tel: +91 22 6652 5000, website: http://www.adityabirla.com (14 Feb 2012)
China: Jiangxi Tikon – TiO2 Jiangxi Tikon Titanium, formerly known as Jiangxi Tianguang Chemical, recently launched three new TiO2 pigment grades and confirmed its position as one of the country’s top six suppliers. At its 50 hectares site at Fuzhou-Fubei, the company now has facilities producing up to 120,000 tonnes/y of TiO2 pigment, of which 100,000 tonnes/y as rutile grades and 20,000 tonnes/y anatase grades. It recently launched three new rutile grades, namely: TR33 (universal); TR-36 (for the plastics industry); and TR-39 (described as “high powder resistant”, with excellent durability and low oil absorption, suitable for paintmakers). Jiangxi Tikon is a subsidiary within the SanSheng group (headquartered in Hong Kong). As well as selling to domestic customers, Jiangxi Tikon also exports to the US, Japan, Italy and various Southeast Asian markets. Original Source: APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Dec 2011/Jan 2012, 24 (6 (China Country Focus)), 5 (Website: http://www.asiapacificcoatingsjournal.com/) © Quartz Business Media Ltd 2012
China: Nippon Steel Chemical, Sojitz, Yizhou & Koppers – carbon black Four companies are collaborating in a project with the city government of Pizhou (Jiangsu province) for the establishment of a fully integrated coal tar processing complex in Pizhou (about 330 km north of Nanjing). The partners are: Koppers Inc (headquartered in Pittsburgh, US); the Shandong Yizhou group (based in China); Nippon Steel Chemical and Sojitz Corp (both headquartered in Tokyo, Japan). Executives from the four companies and from the Pizhou city government signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-February 2012. Construction work has already begun and is expected to be completed by early 2014.
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At the centre of the complex will be a distillation facility capable of processing up to 250,000 tonnes/y of coal tar. This will be run as a joint venture between Koppers and Yizhou, with Koppers having the majority stake. The associated needle-coke and carbon black plants will be operated by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Nippon Steel Chemical (NSC). NSC already has a 75,000 tonnes/y carbon black plant at Tahara (Aichi prefecture, about 100 km south of Nagoya in Japan). Its carbon black products are sold under the Niteron brandname.
BASF to sell its indanthrone blue pigment business. Dominion Colour Corp (of Canada) agreed to buy the business and announced its intention to set up a new unit for making indanthrone blue, presumably in Canada. Until this unit is established, BASF is obliged to continue making indanthrone blue at its Huningue site (about 8 km north of Basel, across the French border). The unit is not yet ready, so BASF has applied to the FTC for permission to extend the toll manufacturing arrangement with Dominion.
Press Release from: Koppers Holdings Inc, 436 Seventh Avenue, Pittsburgh 15219-1800, tel: +1 412 227 2001, website: http://www.koppers.com (16 Feb 2012)
Original Source: Chemical and Engineering News, 10 Oct 2011, 89 (41), (Website: http://www.cenonline.org) © American Chemical Society 2011
China: Zhuzhou Chemical Industry & Datang – TiO2 Zhuzhou Chemical Industry Group (ZCIG), in partnership with China Datang Corp (one of the country’s five largest electricity generating utilities), plans to establish a new chemical complex at Huitong (Hunan province), about 700 km southeast of Chongqing. The complex will include a 100,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plant, as well as an 80,000 tonnes/y polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant and a 15,000 tonnes/y polysilicon plant. It will also include a chloralkali facility, capable of producing 175,000 tonnes/y of chlorine and 200,000 tonnes/y of caustic soda. Construction work on the new complex has already begun and all the plants are expected to come on-stream during 2015. At present, ZCIG’s only TiO2 plant is a relatively small-scale sulfate-route unit at Qingshuitang, a northwestern suburb of Zhuzhou city (also in Hunan province). Given its association with the chloralkali facilities, ZCIG presumably intends to employ chloride-route technology for the new TiO2 project. Original Source: ICIS Chemical Business, 16 Jan 2012, 8 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com) © Reed Business Information Limited 2012
France & Canada: BASF & Dominion – indanthrone blue As a condition of anti-trust approval for the BASF takeover of Ciba Speciality Chemicals, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) instructed
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Indonesia: Nippon Pigment – plastics compound & masterbatch Nippon Pigment plans to invest Yen 700 M to install a second plant for making plastics compounds and masterbatches on its site at an industrial estate on the outskirts of Jakarta. The plant is scheduled to start-up in October 2012, with an initial capacity of 18,000 tonnes/y based on six manufacturing lines. Another two lines, with a combined capacity of 6000 tonnes/y, will be installed in April 2013. Nippon Pigment already has a 24,000 tonnes/y plant on this site, so the new facilities will bring total capacity here to 48,000 tonnes/y. The company also has manufacturing operations in Malaysia and Singapore. It is now considering the feasibility of setting up a manufacturing operation in southern India. Original Source: Japan Chemical Web, 1 Feb 2012, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp) © The Chemical Daily Co Ltd 2012
Ukraine: Krymsky Titan – TiO2 Krymsky Titan reported full-year 2011 TiO2 pigment output at 108,069 tonnes, representing a 2% increase on the previous year. This represents a new all-time record for Krymsky Titan, which now plans to raise the capacity of its Armyansk plant on the Crimean peninsula to 200,000 tonnes/y by the end of 2014 Original Source: ICIS Chemical Business, 23 Jan 2012, 22 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com) © Reed Business Information Limited 2012
COMPANIES BHP Billiton sells its 37% stake in RBM to Rio Tinto Rio Tinto has consolidated its position in the global TiO2 feedstock industry, purchasing BHP Billiton’s 37% stake in Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), which operates five units mining heavy minerals in the Zulti area, about 50 km north of Richards Bay (Kwazulu Natal province) on the east coast of South Africa. The company also operates an ilmenite smelter, generating TiO2 slag (containing 85% TiO2) and metallic pig iron. RBM’s current nameplate capacity is: 1.08 M tonnes/y of TiO2 slag; 110,000 tonnes/y of rutile; and 300,000 tonnes/y of zircon. The company also has an acid-leaching facility for converting about 160,000 tonnes/y of zircon into premium-grade material. RBM is the largest and lowest-cost producer of TiO2 feedstock in the world. RBM was created in 1975 and from the outset QIT (now part of the Rio Tinto group) had prime responsibility for mining and smelting operations, as well as for marketing RBM’s entire output. Billiton acquired a 50% stake in RBM in mid-1997 when it purchased Gencor (formerly General Mining Union Corp, of Johannesburg). Billiton merged with BHP about four years later. Under South Africa’s black economic empowerment legislation, the joint venture partners were obliged to relinquish a total of 26% of the shares in RBM. An agreement signed on 11 December 2008 effectively reduced the shareholdings of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to 37% each and transferred a stake of 24% to a consortium of local communities and businesses, with the remaining 2% being vested in an employee ownership trust, catering for RBM’s 1750 employees. The total equity of RBM was independently valued at Rand 19 bn (equivalent to about $1.9 bn) as at end-September 2008. Associated with the restructuring agreement, Rio Tinto granted BHP Billiton a “put option” over BHP Billiton’s entire interest in the restructured RBM, calculated on a fair market value, based on the discounted cashflows of RBM at the
MARCH 2012
MARCH 2012
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PLANTS Canada, Hungary & Spain: Aditya Birla – carbon black Columbian Chemicals is now a division of Birla Carbon, following the completion of the $875 M acquisition by the Aditya Birla group last June. (See ‘Focus on Pigments’, Sep 2011, 6). Effective 1 January 2012, Birla Carbon was established to coordinate the group’s worldwide carbon black activities, with Dr Santrupt Misra as Chief Executive Officer. Mr Kevin Boyle, who was previously CEO at Columbian, became Chief Operating Officer for Birla Carbon. Mr Surendra Goyal was appointed as Chief Financial Officer. Mr Madhurima Gupta was appointed as Chief Sourcing & Procurement Officer. Birla Carbon generates annual revenues of around $2 bn and its global carbon black capacity is around 2 M tonnes/y. Expansions are already underway at several of the plants inherited as part of the Columbian Chemicals acquisition. Debottlenecking will increase Birla’s total European capacity by at least 30,000 tonnes/y by the end of March 2012. The main plants affected will be the 60,000 tonnes/y plant at Santander (Spain) and the 106,000 tonnes/y plant at Tiszjauvaros (Hungary). In Canada, Birla has begun work on a 50% expansion at its Hamilton, ON plant, raising capacity here to 135,000 tonnes/y. In addition, the company is installing a facility described as “an energy centre designed to leverage efficiencies of the plant to supply electricity for both internal and external uses.” Presumably, this means a power cogeneration facility. No details were released as to the target completion date. Mr John Loudermilk (President, North America) said: “Major global tyre manufacturers have announced substantial expansion programmes in North America, driving expected demand growth for carbon black beyond current production capacity within the region. Birla Carbon is committed to supporting our customers’ growth plans. The Hamilton plant’s outstanding history of producing worldclass products, the proximity to our customer base, and
the excellent talent pool in the Ontario region position us well to provide that support.” Original Source: European Rubber Journal, 23 Jan 2012, (Website: http://www.european-rubberjournal.com/) © Crain Communications Ltd 2012 & Press Release from: Aditya Birla Management Corp Pvte Ltd, Worli, Mumbai 400030, India, tel: +91 22 6652 5000, website: http://www.adityabirla.com (14 Feb 2012)
China: Jiangxi Tikon – TiO2 Jiangxi Tikon Titanium, formerly known as Jiangxi Tianguang Chemical, recently launched three new TiO2 pigment grades and confirmed its position as one of the country’s top six suppliers. At its 50 hectares site at Fuzhou-Fubei, the company now has facilities producing up to 120,000 tonnes/y of TiO2 pigment, of which 100,000 tonnes/y as rutile grades and 20,000 tonnes/y anatase grades. It recently launched three new rutile grades, namely: TR33 (universal); TR-36 (for the plastics industry); and TR-39 (described as “high powder resistant”, with excellent durability and low oil absorption, suitable for paintmakers). Jiangxi Tikon is a subsidiary within the SanSheng group (headquartered in Hong Kong). As well as selling to domestic customers, Jiangxi Tikon also exports to the US, Japan, Italy and various Southeast Asian markets. Original Source: APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Dec 2011/Jan 2012, 24 (6 (China Country Focus)), 5 (Website: http://www.asiapacificcoatingsjournal.com/) © Quartz Business Media Ltd 2012
China: Nippon Steel Chemical, Sojitz, Yizhou & Koppers – carbon black Four companies are collaborating in a project with the city government of Pizhou (Jiangsu province) for the establishment of a fully integrated coal tar processing complex in Pizhou (about 330 km north of Nanjing). The partners are: Koppers Inc (headquartered in Pittsburgh, US); the Shandong Yizhou group (based in China); Nippon Steel Chemical and Sojitz Corp (both headquartered in Tokyo, Japan). Executives from the four companies and from the Pizhou city government signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-February 2012. Construction work has already begun and is expected to be completed by early 2014.
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At the centre of the complex will be a distillation facility capable of processing up to 250,000 tonnes/y of coal tar. This will be run as a joint venture between Koppers and Yizhou, with Koppers having the majority stake. The associated needle-coke and carbon black plants will be operated by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Nippon Steel Chemical (NSC). NSC already has a 75,000 tonnes/y carbon black plant at Tahara (Aichi prefecture, about 100 km south of Nagoya in Japan). Its carbon black products are sold under the Niteron brandname.
BASF to sell its indanthrone blue pigment business. Dominion Colour Corp (of Canada) agreed to buy the business and announced its intention to set up a new unit for making indanthrone blue, presumably in Canada. Until this unit is established, BASF is obliged to continue making indanthrone blue at its Huningue site (about 8 km north of Basel, across the French border). The unit is not yet ready, so BASF has applied to the FTC for permission to extend the toll manufacturing arrangement with Dominion.
Press Release from: Koppers Holdings Inc, 436 Seventh Avenue, Pittsburgh 15219-1800, tel: +1 412 227 2001, website: http://www.koppers.com (16 Feb 2012)
Original Source: Chemical and Engineering News, 10 Oct 2011, 89 (41), (Website: http://www.cenonline.org) © American Chemical Society 2011
China: Zhuzhou Chemical Industry & Datang – TiO2 Zhuzhou Chemical Industry Group (ZCIG), in partnership with China Datang Corp (one of the country’s five largest electricity generating utilities), plans to establish a new chemical complex at Huitong (Hunan province), about 700 km southeast of Chongqing. The complex will include a 100,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plant, as well as an 80,000 tonnes/y polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant and a 15,000 tonnes/y polysilicon plant. It will also include a chloralkali facility, capable of producing 175,000 tonnes/y of chlorine and 200,000 tonnes/y of caustic soda. Construction work on the new complex has already begun and all the plants are expected to come on-stream during 2015. At present, ZCIG’s only TiO2 plant is a relatively small-scale sulfate-route unit at Qingshuitang, a northwestern suburb of Zhuzhou city (also in Hunan province). Given its association with the chloralkali facilities, ZCIG presumably intends to employ chloride-route technology for the new TiO2 project. Original Source: ICIS Chemical Business, 16 Jan 2012, 8 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com) © Reed Business Information Limited 2012
France & Canada: BASF & Dominion – indanthrone blue As a condition of anti-trust approval for the BASF takeover of Ciba Speciality Chemicals, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) instructed
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Indonesia: Nippon Pigment – plastics compound & masterbatch Nippon Pigment plans to invest Yen 700 M to install a second plant for making plastics compounds and masterbatches on its site at an industrial estate on the outskirts of Jakarta. The plant is scheduled to start-up in October 2012, with an initial capacity of 18,000 tonnes/y based on six manufacturing lines. Another two lines, with a combined capacity of 6000 tonnes/y, will be installed in April 2013. Nippon Pigment already has a 24,000 tonnes/y plant on this site, so the new facilities will bring total capacity here to 48,000 tonnes/y. The company also has manufacturing operations in Malaysia and Singapore. It is now considering the feasibility of setting up a manufacturing operation in southern India. Original Source: Japan Chemical Web, 1 Feb 2012, (Website: http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp) © The Chemical Daily Co Ltd 2012
Ukraine: Krymsky Titan – TiO2 Krymsky Titan reported full-year 2011 TiO2 pigment output at 108,069 tonnes, representing a 2% increase on the previous year. This represents a new all-time record for Krymsky Titan, which now plans to raise the capacity of its Armyansk plant on the Crimean peninsula to 200,000 tonnes/y by the end of 2014 Original Source: ICIS Chemical Business, 23 Jan 2012, 22 (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com) © Reed Business Information Limited 2012
COMPANIES BHP Billiton sells its 37% stake in RBM to Rio Tinto Rio Tinto has consolidated its position in the global TiO2 feedstock industry, purchasing BHP Billiton’s 37% stake in Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), which operates five units mining heavy minerals in the Zulti area, about 50 km north of Richards Bay (Kwazulu Natal province) on the east coast of South Africa. The company also operates an ilmenite smelter, generating TiO2 slag (containing 85% TiO2) and metallic pig iron. RBM’s current nameplate capacity is: 1.08 M tonnes/y of TiO2 slag; 110,000 tonnes/y of rutile; and 300,000 tonnes/y of zircon. The company also has an acid-leaching facility for converting about 160,000 tonnes/y of zircon into premium-grade material. RBM is the largest and lowest-cost producer of TiO2 feedstock in the world. RBM was created in 1975 and from the outset QIT (now part of the Rio Tinto group) had prime responsibility for mining and smelting operations, as well as for marketing RBM’s entire output. Billiton acquired a 50% stake in RBM in mid-1997 when it purchased Gencor (formerly General Mining Union Corp, of Johannesburg). Billiton merged with BHP about four years later. Under South Africa’s black economic empowerment legislation, the joint venture partners were obliged to relinquish a total of 26% of the shares in RBM. An agreement signed on 11 December 2008 effectively reduced the shareholdings of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to 37% each and transferred a stake of 24% to a consortium of local communities and businesses, with the remaining 2% being vested in an employee ownership trust, catering for RBM’s 1750 employees. The total equity of RBM was independently valued at Rand 19 bn (equivalent to about $1.9 bn) as at end-September 2008. Associated with the restructuring agreement, Rio Tinto granted BHP Billiton a “put option” over BHP Billiton’s entire interest in the restructured RBM, calculated on a fair market value, based on the discounted cashflows of RBM at the
MARCH 2012