Kunal Jain has joined DCM Shriram Ltd., a US $1.3 billion group as Lead-Corporate Affairs in the Chemicals Business in December 2022. Prior to joining DCM Shriram, Kunal was handling policy advocacy and government outreach for the Indian Chemical Council (ICC) as Assistant Director.  Kunal has a decade long experience working in the areas of policy analysis, policy interventions, government affairs, and multilateral stakeholder management in the complex chemicals & petrochemicals industry. Acting as a bridge between the industry and the government, he has been involved in various stakeholder consultations and has arranged/organised numerous consultations, brainstorming sessions, and other forums on behalf of his employer organisations. Before ICC, Kunal has also worked in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) handling the national committee on chemicals and national committee on textiles apart from assisting in committees on capital goods, heavy industries, CoE (Centre o...

Vikas Lifecare Limited Infra Materials Division has bagged fresh orders worth Rs. 16 crore for Q4 of FY 2022-23. The Infra Division has achieved Rs. 63 crore sales during the current fiscal till 31st December 2022, exceeding the targeted sales volumes by 5% and is heading to exceed the annual sales target of Rs. 80 crore by at least 10%. Vikas Lifecare Limited is poised to expand the Infra products division and is moving forward with plans for creating forward integration for the infrastructure related products and materials. The company has been actively working on various proposals which are at different stages of negotiation and finalization.  The company will actively participate in infrastructure development projects via collaborations and financial investments thus creating a forward integration for the Infra Products Division. These projects will elevate the scope of business and will add to the performance of the Infra Products Division with higher sales volumes and bette...

BASF and NZRCC sign technology license agreement for production of isononyl alcohol BASF and Ningbo Refining and Chemical Co. Ltd (NZRCC) have signed a technology license agreement to produce isononyl alcohol (INA) utilizing BASF’s proprietary oxo-technology. NZRCC is a joint venture between the City of Ningbo and Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Co. Ltd (ZRCC), an affiliate of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC). The license agreement allows NZRCC to build a world-scale INA production facility at ZRCC’s integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in Zhenhai, China. The plant shall have a production capacity of 200,000 tons per year and is expected to come on stream in 2026. BASF has extensive expertise in this INA process, as well as corresponding catalysts, and equipment. This technology was successfully developed and implemented at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and subsequently adopted by BASF MPCC Company Limited (BMC), a joint ve...

PVC prices have declined by a further Rs5/kg, or 3.7%, to Rs130.3/kg, w.e.f. 1st Jun’21. This is the second decline in the last 15 days. After an increase of Rs19/kg, or 16.2%, in Q4FY21, PVC prices have fallen by 4.4% in Q1FY22-TD and 6.5% from the peak of Rs139.3/kg in May’21. While the price surge in FY21 was led largely by sustained supply-side issues globally amid intermittent domestic lockdowns, the recent fall is essentially a result of expected imports of calcium carbide-based PVC from China in the near term along with correction in global prices. With the latest price fall, we expect PVC pipe players to face volume squeeze in the next couple of months as traders might expect a material price decline going forward. CPVC pipe prices on the other hand are likely to surge in the foreseeable future. We thus prefer Astral (ASTRA) over Prince Pipes and Fittings (PPF) and Supreme Industries (SI). Global price correction leads to further fall in PVC prices. After an increa...

Nouryon, a global specialty chemicals leader, has started full-scale production at its world-class and innovative organic peroxide greenfield site in Tianjin, China to support the increasing demand from Packaging, Paints and Coatings, and Construction customers in the region. The site consists of three manufacturing facilities and is equipped with the latest technology for safety, energy efficiency, and environmental protection. Nouryon is a global leader in organic peroxides, which are essential to manufacture a wide range of polymers used in the PVC and composites industry for products like window profiles, artificial marble, coating resins, blood bags and other medical packaging materials. Nouryon product brands produced at the site include Trigonox and Perkadox organic peroxides as well as Butanox methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. “Asia is an important growth market for Nouryon and the start-up of our new organic peroxide facilities in Tianjin is a significant milesto...