MARKETSImerys raises European & NorthAmerican calcium carbonate prices

Effective 1 December 2012, Imerysincreased the prices of all its calciumcarbonate products for Europeancustomers by 4-6% and for NorthAmerican customers by 4-10%. Thecompany stated that these increaseswere necessary to supportinvestments in manufacturing, qualitysystems, environmental compliance,and new product development, as wellas helping to offset increasedproduction costs. Apparently, neitherOmya nor Mineral Technologies Inc(MTI) has announced similar priceincreases for their ground orprecipitated calcium carbonateproducts.

Original Source: Imerys SA, 154 Rue de l’Université,75007 Paris, France, tel: +33 (0)1 4955 6401, website:http://www.imerys.com (5 Oct 2012 & 8 Nov 2012) © Imerys 2012

PLANTSBelarus: Omsk – carbon black

Omsk Techuglerod’s project to build anew 80,000 tonnes/y carbon blackplant in the Mogilev region (220 kmeast of Minsk) was reaffirmed by thecompany’s Chairman, Mr ValeryKaplunat, during his recent visit toBelarus, when he met PresidentAlexander Lukashenko. Just over 50%of the carbon black from the plant hasbeen earmarked for supply to OAOBelshina, the largest tyremanufacturer in Belarus. Smallerdomestic customers will account for afurther 3-5% of the output, leavingabout 35,000 tonnes/y available forexport.

Original Source: RCCnews, 8 Feb & 21 Mar 2013,(Website: http://www.rccnews.ru/eng) © RCCnews.ru2013

China: Cathay Industries – iron oxidepigments

Cathay Industries Ltd, withheadquarters at Tsimshatsui East inKowloon, is the world’s third largestproducer of iron oxide pigments, afterLanxess and Rockwood. Cathay isdetermined to consolidate its positionwith a major investment in a new

plant, to be built at Tongling (Anhuiprovince), near the Yangtze River,about 190 km southwest of Nanjing.The new plant will be built andoperated as a joint venture – RelyScience & Technology Co Ltd, withthe Tonghua Iron & Steel group (ofChangchun, Jilin province) asCathay’s partner. The plant willproduce yellow, red and black ironoxide pigments. Its initial capacity willbe 100,000 tonnes/y, with provision forexpansion to 150,000 tonnes/y. Nodetails have been released as to thetarget on-stream date, nor as to theanticipated capital cost. The new plantwill be designed to be environment-friendly. Waste heat from nearbychemical fertiliser complexes willmake a substantial contributiontowards the plant’s energyrequirements, thus reducing thecarbon footprint. The manufacturingprocess employed has been designedto minimise solid and liquid wastes.

Cathay Industries was originallyfounded as Advanced Chemicals Ltdin 1979, essentially a tradingcompany. The company moved intopigment manufacturing in 1984 andchanged its name to Cathay Pigmentsin 1997. It changed its name toCathay Industries in 2008. Thecompany’s core activity is iron oxidepigments, but it is also a substantialproducer of chromium oxide greenpigments. It also supplies TiO2 andorganic pigments, solvent dyes, foodcolorants and thermally stable ferrites.The company’s manufacturing sitesinclude: Baoshan-Pudong (Shanghaiprovince); Shaxing (Zhejiangprovince); Shenzhen (Guangdongprovince); Kingsgrove (20 kmsouthwest of Sydney city-centre,Australia); and Ninove (25 km west ofBrussels, Belgium). Cathay’s largestiron oxide pigments plant is at Wuxi-Yixing (Jiangsu province). This plantcame on-stream in 2006 and now hasa capacity of 80,000 tonnes/y. Cathayalso has an iron oxide pigments plantat Valparaiso, IN (140 km southeast ofChicago in the US), which it acquiredfrom Ishihara Sangyo in 2006.

As well as supplying standard ironoxide pigment powder grades forconcrete products, such as roof-tilesand paving-slabs, Cathay supplies:CathayCoat grades for use in paints,CathayPure grades for use incosmetics; and CathayMag for use intoners, magnetic inks, transfer ribbons

and other applications requiringmagnetic pigments.

Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 25 Feb 2013,(624), (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (inFrench) © ETAI Information 2013

India, Paraguay, Middle East &Vietnam: Alok – plastics masterbatch

Alok Masterbatches Ltd, one of thelargest plastics masterbatch suppliersin the country, is poised to open itsfifth plant in India during April 2013.The plant will be located at Ranipet(115 km west of Chennai, Tamil Naduprovince) and it will produce up to20,000 tonnes/y of a wide range ofmasterbatches. Speaking at thePlastasia trade exhibition in Bangalorerecently, Mr Aditya Bhadauria(Commercial Director) said: “SouthernIndia has a rapidly growingautomotive industry and alreadyrepresents a big market for plasticcompounds. Alok Masterbatches isalso planning to set up a new plant inthe Middle East or in Vietnam duringthe next couple of years.”

Within India, Alok already has fourplants, with a combined capacity of50,000 tonnes/y. They are located at:New Delhi, Bhiwadi (250 km southeastof Mumbai), Dadra and Silvassa (bothabout 170 km north of Mumbai). Thecompany markets its products underthe brandnames: AddNox (additivemasterbatches); UvNox (for lightstabiliser applications); RotoPol (forrotary moulding applications); AgriTek(for agricultural plastics); MagnaFil(incorporating calcium carbonateand/or talc); and NoirPlus(incorporating carbon black for high-performance applications).

Last year, Carmenta – a jointventure owned by Alok, LML India andReguera Holding (of Paraguay) –opened a new plastics masterbatchplant in Paraguay, the first such facilityin the country. Total investment in thisventure was $10 M, with most of theequipment being shipped in from India.The plant is located at Ypane (25 kmsouth of Asuncion). Initially, the targetcustomers for masterbatches producedat Ypane comprise the 50 or so plasticsprocessing companies in Paraguay.But, within a few years, the plant will beexpanded so as to also cater forexports to Brazil and Bolivia.

Original Source: Plastics News, 26 Feb 2013,(Website: http://www.plasticsnews.com) © CrainCommunications Inc 2013

6 APRIL 2013

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S