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Ammonia18-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Green hydrogen company Ohmium
International, a green hydrogen company
announced it has signed a term sheet with
renewable energy joint venture SwitcH2 BV to
develop electrolyzer solutions for an offshore
floating green hydrogen and ammonia synthesis
project.
Ohmium designs and manufactures scalable proton
exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, which it
touts as enabling cost-competitive green
hydrogen production, and under this agreement
they will develop PEM electrolyzer solutions
for the offshore project to be led by SwitcH2.
Ohmium’s PEM electrolyzers will utilise
nearshore solar and wind power, along with
treated seawater, to produce green hydrogen.
The hydrogen will be fed into an on-deck
ammonia synthesis unit, and the resulting
product will eventually be offloaded onto an
ammonia carrier for transport.
The project will be located off southern Europe
and create an industrial scale floating green
hydrogen and ammonia production facility with
an estimated an annual production capacity of
up to 55,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and
almost 300,000 short tons of green ammonia.
Officials said the project is anticipated to
have green ammonia production by 2029.
“We are pleased to have Ohmium join us in
making this pioneering project possible,” said
Bob Rietveldt, SwitcH2’s director and
co-founder.
“Their product delivers high efficiency, and
the comprehensive, standardized design enables
flexible and rapid installation, at scale.”
Ohmium CEO Arne Ballantine said the company was
thrilled to be part of what it called a
transformative project and that they appreciate
the expertise that SwitcH2 brings to offshore
floating production.
“The market for green ammonia is poised to grow
exponentially in the coming decades, especially
as a source of clean fuel for the global
shipping industry, and Ohmium is looking
forward to collaborating with SwitcH2 in
helping address that need,” said Ballantine.
Nylon18-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Ascend Performance Materials
plans to shut down its remaining operations
Greenwood, South Carolina, and move the site’s
polymer production to its complex in Pensacola,
Florida, US-based nylon producer said on
Friday.
The Greenwood site produces nylon 6,6 products
based on monomers made from its other
locations. The site makes nylon 6,6 polymer
chips for textiles, bulk continuous filament
(BCF) fiber for carpets, as well as industrial
fibres for high-tenacity and technical fiber
applications such as tire yarn and airbags.
In January 2024, Ascend said it would end
industrial fiber spinning operations in
Greenwood. By early 2025, it will end all other
operations in Greenwood.
Earlier on Friday, Ascend confirmed that
was laying off workers at its Pensacola complex
in the face of lower demand for automobiles,
housing and consumer goods, a global trend that
has persisted for the past two years. It did
not specify the number of people who were laid
off.
Thumbnail Photo: Nylon. (By
Shutterstock)
Isocyanates18-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Despite a housing crisis in many
of its cities, Germany’s new residential
housing continues to decline.
Permits fall
Building decline hurts economy
Benefits from interest rate cuts have not
yet kicked in
Residential construction permits continued to
fall in August, according to the latest data by
the country’s federal statistics agency on
Friday:
Permits fell 6.8% year on year to just
18,300 in August.
For the first eight months, permits were
141,900 – down 19.3% year on year from 175,800
in the year-earlier period.
Permits already fell sharply last year. Before
2023, they averaged 240,000/year, but even that
was low compared with a government target,
announced in 2022, of
400,000 new dwellings each year, construction
industry officials said.
TRADE GROUPS
Construction industry trade group BFW
Bundesverband Freier Immobilien- und
Wohnungsunternehmen said that the situation in
building and construction was “precarious”, not
only for builders but for the overall economy.
About 6.6 million jobs were linked to building
and construction, a sector that was as
important as the auto industry for the
country’s overall economy, the group said.
Residential construction “is the key to
economic growth in many other industries,” BFW
said, adding that the government needed to act
decisively to stop the sector’s “crash”.
Another group, Zentralverband Deutsches
Baugewerbe (ZDB), said that despite government
measures, residential housing was not improving
The construction industry hopes that the
government will take additional measures after
a “residential construction summit”
(Wohnungsgipfel) scheduled to be held in
Hamburg in December, ZDB added.
A third trade group, Hauptverband der Deutschen
Bauindustrie (HDB), was also pessimistic.
Permits have now been falling for 28 months and
pretty much everything that needed to be said
about the decline has been said, HDB noted.
The industry had made many suggestions to
government to turn things around, with no
effect, it added.
INTEREST RATES
Munich-based economic research group ifo said
that the interest rate cuts by
the European Central Bank (ECB) have not yet
had any impact on Germany’s residential
housing.
Instead, interest rates on loans for households
for residential construction remain high, the
group said.
In ifo’s September survey of residential
construction, 52.9% of building and
construction companies reported that order
shortages worsened, compared with August.
In a positive development, however, fewer
orders were canceled than in August.
The overall business climate in residential
construction ticked up month on month, but “it
would be going too far to speak of a glimmer of
hope,” ifo said, adding, “The situation in
residential construction remains serious.”
According to German chemical producers’ trade
group VCI, domestic chemical sales into the
construction sector fell 3.9% year on year in
the January-August period.
The housing market is a key consumer of
chemicals, driving demand for a wide variety of
chemicals, resins and derivative products, such
as plastic pipe, insulation, paints and
coatings, adhesives and synthetic fibers, among
many others.
Please also visit the ICIS
construction topic page and also
visit Macroeconomics: Impact on
Chemicals.
Thumbnail photo source: ZDB
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Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate18-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Senior editor for recycling,
Matt Tudball, discusses the latest developments
in the European recycled polyethylene
terephthalate (R-PET) market, including:
No signs of single-use plastics
directive-related pick-up in demand
Prices stable across all markets
Lack of clarity on single-use plastics
directive measures and penalties a key issue
Ethylene18-Oct-2024
XIAMEN, China (ICIS)–With 2025 contract
discussions underway for Asia ethylene (C2),
ICIS markets editor Josh Quah outlines the top
concerns of industry players as they look ahead
to the coming year.
Players may take steps to hedge against
unpredictability of deep-sea cargoes
China’s long domestic supply may not yet
boost exports by much
Producers keen on ethane to be part of
cracker feedstock slate
Speciality Chemicals18-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Construction output in the
eurozone and EU marginally increased in August
from the previous month, according to official
data on Friday.
Seasonally adjusted production in construction
was up by 0.1% in the eurozone and by 0.4% in
the wider EU.
Building and specialized construction activity
were higher in both blocs, while civil
engineering output was lower, statistics agency
Eurostat said in a statement.
Construction activity for July was revised
down, with a monthly fall of 0.5% in the
eurozone and by 0.3% in the EU. Eurostat had
initially reported largely flat output
in both.
On a year-on-year basis, August construction
output fell by 2.5% the eurozone and by
2.4% in the EU.
Numerous petrochemicals and specialty chemicals
are key ingredients in products used
for modern
construction, including adhesives,
ad-mixtures, sealants, coatings, paints,
flooring, insulation and water proofing.
Crude Oil18-Oct-2024
SINGAPORE (ICIS)–China’s economic growth
continued to lose steam, slowing to 4.6%
year-on-year in the third quarter, down from
4.7% in the previous quarter, the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Friday.
For the first nine months, growth stood at
4.8%.
The slowdown was anticipated, driven by
persistent weakness in demand and the
struggling property sector.
In response, Beijing has ramped up stimulus
measures since late September, underscoring
concerns about the economy’s trajectory.
Achieving the targeted 5% GDP growth for 2024
remains a significant challenge for Beijing,
according to analysts.
Ammonia17-Oct-2024
HOUSTON (ICIS)–US equipment manufacturer John
Deere has announced it is undertaking layoffs
effective 3 January 2025 at facilities in
Illinois and Iowa.
The company said this action is the result of
reduced demand for their equipment and comes as
there is more financial strain being
experienced within industries they serve,
especially their primary market of domestic
agriculture.
“It is important to note these layoffs are due
to reduced demand for the products produced at
these facilities. They are not related to
production moves,” said a John Deere
spokesperson.
“As we have repeatedly stated, layoffs this
fiscal year are due to the weakening farm
economy and a reduction in customer orders for
our equipment.”
John Deere said it informed employees
at John Deere Harvester Works in East
Moline, Illinois, which impacts about 200
production positions out of its total employee
count of 1,880.
The job cuts are also taking place at the John
Deere Seeding and Cylinder operations in
Moline, Illinois, which will involve seven
production employees. The company said there is
currently an estimated 625 total employees at
this location.
There was also notification given at the John
Deere Davenport Works in Davenport, Iowa, with
about 80 production employees affected. This
location has a total workforce of 1,024.
John Deere cited the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) forecast which shows major
row-crop cash receipts to be down another 18%
in 2024, following a 5% decline last year.
With the agency expecting marketing year
average prices for the new crop, which is the
acreage currently being harvested, to continue
to decline from last year.
Earning revenue from construction equipment as
well the company said within the construction
industry single-family home sales are down 30%,
single-family housing starts are down 10%, and
multifamily housing starts are down 40%.
John Deere said employees are eligible to be
recalled to their home factory for a period
equal to their length of service, with those
laid off automatically placed in seniority
order for openings they are qualified to
perform.
Laid-off employees will receive unemployment
and assistance pay as well as their portion of
profit sharing and can keep healthcare coverage
under certain terms.
The company said other benefits could include
life insurance, legal assistance, tuition
reimbursement and job-placement assistance.
Speciality Chemicals17-Oct-2024
LONDON (ICIS)–Chemicals sector executives are
increasingly facing up to the idea that the
sector is going through a process of
reinvention, with no big recovery on the
horizon and a return to pre-crisis normalcy
less likely.
Executives are now looking at next steps for
the sector.
In this Think Tank podcast, Tom
Brown interviews Paul
Hodges, chairman of New Normal
Consulting, Katherine Sale,
ICIS head of editorial strategy, and
Chris Barker, senior editor covering PVC and
caustic soda, on impressions from the EPCA
assembly.
Growing acceptance of no big demand
recovery, while demographic shifts to an ageing
population reduce potential future demand
growth
Consolidation trend likely to continue, but
environmentally sustainable products offer a
growing opportunity
Mood at EPCA less muted than previous two
annual meetings, but far from positive
Energy pricing less of an issue in 2024 so
far but worries remain for 2025, with the
specter of high costs likely to speed closures
Caustic soda, chlorvinyls markets continue
to suffer amid low demand, with substantial
closures seen as necessary to balance the
market
Upcoming EU clean industrial deal likely to
be a benefit, but will not be the end of
regulatory conversation in Europe
Tariffs continuing to proliferate in Europe
against lower-cost imports, but do not address
underlying competitiveness issue
Click here to
watch ICIS’ analyst podcast on future
chemical and recycling market trends from
EPCA.
Editor’s note: This podcast is an opinion
piece. The views expressed are those of the
presenter and interviewees, and do not
necessarily represent those of ICIS.
ICIS is organising regular updates to
help the industry understand current market
trends. Register here
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Read the latest issue of ICIS Chemical
Business.
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ICIS
blogs.
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