India

DuPont has started ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) production at its Chinese joint venture Beijing Hua Mei Polymer Company Limited, with plans to market the EVA produced there under the Elvax brand. DuPont says the joint venture will supply a broad range of specialty EVAs targeting market segments like packaging, adhesives, wire and cable, footwear, renewable energy, and electronics.

Ahead of labor, materials, and energy costs, a new report states that access to talented workers capable of supporting innovation are the key factor driving global competitiveness at manufacturing companies. The 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, a research report from Deloitte's Global Manufacturing Industry group and the U.S.

Additives supplier Baerlocher (Münich, Germany) will increase capacity for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) heat stabilizers at its plant in Dewas, India, doubling output of its one-pack stabilizers by adding 7000 tonnes/yr of capacity. The expansion, which will cost nearly €1 million, will be completed in two stages with work initiating in December of this year.

India's Bilcare Research spent approximately $130 million (€100 million) to acquire the global film extrusion operation of Ineos, one of the world's largest suppliers of petrochemicals and plastics. A binding agreement between the two, announced today (Aug. 2), includes Ineos' films operations, assets and personnel in North America, Europe, and Asia.

India's Deepak Poly Plast and Germany's Pallmann Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG (Zweibrücken, Germany) have announced a cooperative agreement to create PD Polygrinder Pvt. Ltd. The deal involved the Indian maker of plastic and rubber testing equipment with the German size-reduction specialist, with the joint-venture company to focus on the latter.

India's largest converter of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, Manjushree Technopack, is investigating the addition of multilayer preform technology as it works to bring barrier technology to the local carbonated soft drink (CSD) market to boost shelf life.

One of the world's largest Tier-One suppliers of automotive systems is expanding its footprint in India with a new joint venture, which will design—not manufacture—car air conditioning systems. The initial investment for the design center will be $3 million.

A major merger in India brings together Rajoo, a leading manufacturer of blown- and cast-film extrusion machinery, with Wonderpack, which makes thermoforming machinery for both roll-fed and heavy-gauge sheet-fed applications.  

Overview: The slide in spot commodity resin prices that began in May continued into the first week of June, with the average polyethylene (PE) price shedding $0.01/lb and polypropylene (PP) prices giving back another $0.02/lb. Plastics spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE) reported that monomer costs also dropped, and market participants fully expect June resin contracts to settle lower.

Year-over-year earnings reports show how far the global plastics industry has come since the start of 2009, with plastics titans Dow, ExxonMobil Chemical, and BASF showing double-digit gains in sales and volumes, even in Western economies that had heretofore lagged.