Arkema

Global market to grow by 6.4% to USD 3.4 bn by 2020 / Grand View Research study

Operating profit falls by 25% to EUR 206m in Q2 2014 / Earnings decrease in both industrial specialities and high performance materials

New Texas-based MMA plant commissioned / Restructuring of US acrylics activities wrapped up

European production landscape undergoing massive changes / Global capacity shifts drive consolidations / Overcapacities mean additional closures cannot be avoided / Who will be the next victim in this game of Russian roulette?

PVC producer up for sale? / Consolidation in western Europe takes another big step forward

Two EVOH copolymers added to range / High ethylene content aids performance

Omya appointed exclusive pan-European distributor for several impact modifiers and processing aids

“Clearstrength E950” core-shell MBS impact modifiers now available worldwide / Particularly suitable for very low temperature PC applications

Mexican group appoints Helm as exclusive distributor of its castor oil / Feedstock for long-chained bio-polyamides

PMMA acrylic resins prices to rise in EMEA

European processing aids prices to rise

Renewed hike for EVA copolymers

New liquid thermoplastic material for composites

Price increase for PMMA sheet and blocks

Price hike for "Evatane" copolymer range

South African and Kenyan demand to rise by 3.9% per year to 2017 / Infrastructure developments boost growth / Frost & Sullivan report

Industry dominated by need for shorter cycle times / Thermoplastics increasingly used as matrix materials / "JEC" in Paris with record exhibition area / Carbon fibre market still seeing double-digit growth

Danish brewery teams up with global packaging producers to encourage cradle-to-cradle product design / European partners include Arkema, Rexam, RKW and Petainer

Poor market conditions in Europe hit profits and sales in 2013 / Growth strategy aim at boosting sales

Engineering thermoplastics consumption recovers slightly in 2013 / Gains driven by ABS and PMMA / Import volumes of PC, PA and SAN down / Asian producers increasingly step into the fold / Low local capacity utilisation rates / Plastinfo report

Price increase for EVA copolymers

Joint takeover by industrialist and private equity / No indication of planned closures

OpenGate leading in the stretch / Unions present project "Phoenix" / Further potential delays to final decision

Prices to go up for polymer catalysts

Part 1 – General overview: US shale gas boom has European plastics players worried / Commodity sectors dogged by overcapacity, insolvencies / Italy goes all out for biopolymers / Mixed picture for European converters