Plastics & Additives

As financial results are posted for the first half of 2010, it becomes quickly clear that many plastics suppliers have benefitted greatly from an improving market.

At BASF, sales in its plastics business were up 48% in the second quarter compared with the weak level of the previous year. Earnings rose even more, by 153% compared to the same quarter in 2009 and also up over the first quarter of this year.

ExxonMobil's second -quarter earnings, excluding special items, were up 85% from the year prior, fueled by improved downstream margins and strong chemical results. First-half earnings of $13.9 billion were 60% above the first half of 2009. The chemical segment, which includes the company's plastics businesses, posted earnings of $1.368 billion-$1.001 billion higher than the second quarter of 2009. Stronger margins improved earnings by $840 million and higher sales volumes further increased earnings by $120 million.

For its sixth acquisition in just three years, Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc. chose QTR Inc., which markets custom compounds based on recycled polycarbonate and other engineering thermoplastics. QTR's brand lives on even as the company is being integrated into The Matrixx Group, another Citadel holding. QTR had annual sales of approximately $15 million, more than half out of the automotive market, and ran its compounds off of three twin-screw and to single-screw extrusion lines.    

Misinformation continues to take hold in the plastics industry on how to determine the amount of moisture in your resin. It’s time once again to set the record straight.

PolyOne Corp. (Cleveland, OH) has opened a wholly owned business development office in Seoul, South Korea in response to the "growth of consumer product design and manufacturing companies, as well as polymer processors, in the Asia-Pacific region," according to Willie Chien, president of Asia operations for the resin distributor and compounder.

Overview: After a sustained period of heightened activity, spot resin trading slowed "a bit" last week, according to plastics spot-trading platform, The Plastics Exchange (TPE). Price movements were mixed, with polyethylene steady to a penny lower, while polypropylene recovered another cent. Spot monomer prices were also mixed, holding in a tight range.

Novomer Inc.'s (Ithaca, N.Y.) work with Albemarle Corp. (Baton Rouge, LA) and Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), to develop a process that converts waste carbon dioxide into polycarbonate (PC) for use in packaging was one of six projects to be awarded additional funding from the U.S. federal government on July 22. U.S.

After more than 20 years' experience in the plastics industry, and time before that spent with logistics procurement companies, Philip Karig has created a new challenge for himself: helping small-to-midsized plastics processors save money on their resin purchasing. His company also is keen to help these processors negotiate for other goods and services, too.

A company founded in 2001 by a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman is increasingly finding a home for "un-recyclable" plastics and bridging the gap between consumers of everyday items like drink pouches and the brand owners that create them. Now, Tom Szaky, a grizzled 28-year-old that was named to Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 list at 24, and his company, TerraCycle (Trenton, NJ), are reaching out to the plastics industry.

Amid recovering markets, suppliers of additives to the plastics sector are facing challenges in securing stable raw supply sources while a combination of consumer choice, legislation, and regulation is also transforming the additive types that resin producers and compounders demand.