South Korea's finance ministry said Thursday (26 April 2018) it has decided to levy anti-dumping duties on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film imported from Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates for the next three years. In January, the country's trade commission recommended the government levy stiff duties on the product, citing substantial damage to the local industry.

In a second significant step toward the implementation of Saudi Aramco and SABIC’s fully-integrated crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex in Saudi Arabia, the two partners have awarded a contract to KBR, a leading global provider of project management, and professional & engineering services in the petrochemicals industry, for the COTC project management and front-end engineering and design (FEED).

Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Co. (DRPIC) has broken ground for its refinery and petrochemical project in the Duqm Special Economic Zone of Oman, according to local news reports.

South Korean chemical companies can be negatively affected by global oil majors’ entry into the chemical industry. As global oil majors enter the chemical industry one after another, South Korean companies are advised to shift the focus to higher value-added products to cope with the situation.

Despite low prices in both local and foreign markets, Myanmar’s rubber export will not decrease, according to Myanmar Rubber Growers and Producers Association. 

Wacker Chemie AG on 24 April 2018 opened a new production site for silicone elastomers in South Korea. The plant is located around 100 kilometers southeast of Seoul at Jincheon, where the Group has already been producing silicone sealants since 2010 and specialty silicones for the electronics industry since 2012. 

Arlanxeo announced that it will raise the global prices for rubber products, distributed under the brand names Buna and X_Butyl, effective from 1 May 2018. The measure is the result of the overall market developments, said the company.

Repsol announced that its chemical business has signed up a voluntary commitment to increase the circularity and efficiency of resources. According to the company, this commitment is achieved through its adhesion to “Plastics 2030 – Voluntary Commitment”. PlasticsEurope published this voluntary commitment following the European Commission’s announcement on their Plastics Strategy initiative, adopted in January 2018.

Arburg announced that it will exhibit at Chinaplas, which will be held from 24 – 27 April 2018 in Shanghai, China. According to the company, the focus of the trade show appearance will be on Industry 4.0 and additive manufacturing, as well as innovative lightweight construction for the automotive industry, LSR processing for the 3Cs sector (communication, computer, consumer), a medical technology application and a turnkey solution for the packaging industry.

Cabot Corporation announced that it will increase the prices for all rubber carbon black products sold by its Reinforcement Materials segment in North America.