Markets

New PMMA moulding compounds plant starts in China / First unit of EUR 250m methacrylates complex

Global market reaches USD 6.1 bn / Annual growth of 6.1% forecast for next five years

Plans for Saudi elastomers jv with ExxonMobil progressing / More economic feasibility studies

Aerospace supplier plans joint ventures with Russian firm

US Food and Drug Administration spreads its wings / Offices in China, India and Europe

French-Slovakian unit in administration / Massive job cuts / "Facilities far oversized,” auto supplier says

Entire petrochemicals complex in Sardinia to go offline for two months / Cracker, HDPE, chlorine chain and aromatics affected / Phenol chain down for all of 2009

Restructuring of PA 6.6 business stepped up to aid sale plans / Capacity and job cuts / Decline in demand

Euromap sees dark clouds on horizon for European manufacturers after record 2007 / Order downturn of “historic dimensions / Association forecasts lower sales for 2009 / Very strong global market position

Anti-dumping investigation into polyamide imports from the EU, USA and Taiwan

Polyethylene production reduced by 55% for two months / Nearly a quarter of the workforce to be temporarily laid off

PMI rigid foam plant comes on stream in US

Relocation of PVC pipe production / Ambitious expansion program up until 2013

Second flexible packaging plant opens in Thailand

Cefic forecasts decline in output of 0.6% in 2008

Cracker in Geleen stays offline

Production cutbacks for PA, PMMA and PVC

Demand again grew faster than GDP in 2007 / Consumption 52.5m t / Germany still the biggest producer / Half of European plastics waste is recycled / PlasticsEurope report “Compelling Facts about Plastics 2007” on the EU27 plus Norway and Switzerland

Plant closures in Düren and Schmidtheim / Capacity to be relocated to other sites

Congress urged to include suppliers in plans

“Definitive final result” shows Ciba stake at almost 95%

China and EU sign revised product safety agreement / Trilateral meeting in Brussels / Call for common standards

Rise of 27% rise in value of plastics production in 2007 / Pipes and profiles segments on the brink of consolidation / More stringent safety regulations for the chemical industry

Financing obtained for Portuguese PTA plant / Interquisa acquisition finally falls through

Middle East: Considerable growth in imports / Germany by far the largest supplier