Chemicals

India - Government slaps anti-dumping duty on polypropylene and carbon black

Source: The Press Trust of India Limited, 31 July 2009

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of carbon black, used in rubber applications, to guard the domestic industry from cheap shipments from China, Russia, Thailand and Australia. The country has also imposed the duty on imports of polypropylene, used as an engineering plastic, from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

On carbon black, the duty was ranged between US$ 0.078/kg and US$0.195/kg, while on polypropylene the duty was ranged between US$44.43/metric ton and US$1,033.65/metric ton. According to the Central Board of Customs and Excise, the countries have been exporting the two products, carbon black and polypropylene, to India below their normal value. The anti-dumping duty on the products would be effective up to 29 January 2010.

Thailand - Building plastics institute to enhance industry competitiveness

Source: Bangkok Post, 03 August 2009

The Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) of Thailand plans to set up a plastics institute to help raise the long-term competitiveness of Thailand's plastics industry. Along with the Plastic Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries, the OIE is planning to invest an initial Bt20 million (US$590,000) to develop the industry by setting up an institute. Currently, operators are mostly SMEs that lack the ability to adapt to competition by themselves. Hence, there is an essential need to set up an institute to provide support. A proposal will be submitted soon for cabinet approval.

The institute is part of the five-year plastics industry development strategy from 2009-13 that aims to raise capacity by 5% so that 20% of plastic product imports would be unnecessary by 2013. The institute will act as a long-term development facilitator to raise the competitiveness of operators, helping them to add export value to plastic products by 25% per year on average. Thailand's main export markets are within Asean. The industry production value for 2009 is forecast at Bt284 billion (US$8.35 billion) and projected to reach Bt378 billion (US$11.1 billion) by 2013.

Japan - Mitsubishi Chemical to buy Mitsubishi Rayon and speed up industry consolidation

Source: Business Times, 11 August 2009

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings is in talks to buy smaller rival Mitsubishi Rayon for up to US$2.1 billion, a move to help consolidate Japan's overcrowded chemicals sector. A company spokesman said he would not deny Mitsubishi Rayon was on a list of businesses it was considering for purchase, but he declined to comment further. The deal would not likely change Mitsubishi Chemical's global ranking of No. 14 in terms of chemical sales, but it would add key specialized materials to its product line-up to help it compete with larger rivals such as BASF.

The deal would give Mitsubishi Chemical a chance to focus on high-end, high-performance resins and distance themselves from fierce price competition in basic petrochemical products. The company has been downsizing its petrochemical operations, which have been losing out to Middle Eastern and Chinese rivals. Instead, it wants to build up its offering of value-added materials to catch up with BASF, Dow Chemical and other major players.

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