RELEASED ON 04/03/13 (DD/MM/YY)
Bayer CropScience and the Brazilian wheat-breeding company Biotrigo Genetica Ltda. have signed an agreement to expand their successful cooperation. With this agreement, Bayer will be able to use the lineage of new wheat varieties of one of Brazil’s leading wheat breeding companies. Biotrigo’s germplasm pool is renowned for its yield, high milling and baking quality and disease resistance. Financial details were not disclosed.
"Our agreement with Biotrigo is another step toward a world-class research platform for wheat genetics," said Hartmut van Lengerich, head of cereals and fungicides at Bayer CropScience. "We have entered into collaborations with the best partners in wheat research and breeding across the world. Now we are also looking forward to working with the motivated and experienced Biotrigo team."
"Biotrigo is a global leader in combining grain yield and end-use quality with resistance to difficult-to-control diseases," said Edward Souza, director of wheat breeding at Bayer CropScience. "Their guidance will help us continue to build our capacity in Europe and emerging markets."
For André Rosa, Biotrigo business director, the agreement with Bayer CropScience is important because it strengthens the company's growth and contributes to its vision of leadership in Latin America.
According to Ottoni Rosa Filho, Biotrigo technical director, the agreement will enable an even greater investment in research and development, contributing to generations of innovation for wheat farmers. "This agreement enables Biotrigo and its partners to be more competitive by enhancing their portfolio of cultivars in the medium and long-term," assured Filho.
According to André Rosa, Bayer CropScience is synonymous with quality in everything it does. "This agreement with one of the most successful and respected agricultural companies in the world thanks to its brand and solutions shows that the quality of research at Biotrigo is being recognized."
Biotrigo is based in Passo Fundo in the region Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. Both companies are already involved in a successful cooperation for the joint development of customized solutions consisting of wheat seeds and crop protection products for the Brazilian market. The expansion of this collaboration is focused on regions outside the Americas.
Biotrigo is a Brazilian wheat breeding company, located in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, with a focus on development of wheat cultivars for Brazil and other Latin American countries. The company has three breeding programs, which have been delivering superior seeds to the wheat market over the years. The cultivars developed by Biotrigo are a result of more than 20 years of research. Its seeds are recognized as of high yield associated with breadmaking quality and resistance to diseases.
SOURCE Agprofessional.com
Silicon manufacturer Wacker Chemie has invested an undisclosed sum in Nexeon, a British battery materials company that is developing silicon materials to replace carbon as the anode of lithium-ion batteries. Nexeon says its technology yields rechargeable batteries with higher charge density. The company operates a pilot plant in Oxfordshire, England. Last year it raised more than $50 million from investors to build a 250-metric-ton-per-year facility for its silicon anode material.
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering News
Russia’s Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, a unit of natural gas giant Gazprom group, will invest 15 billion rubles in the creation of an acrylic acid and acrylates complex with the help of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, according a statement released Friday on the republic’s presidential Web site, RIA Novosti cited.
The complex will incorporate the production of 80,000 tonnes of raw acrylic acid, 80,000 tonnes of butyl acrylate, and 35,000 tonnes of glacial acrylic annually . The capacities will be reached in October–December 2015.
Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refines oil and produces oil products for petro-chemistry. The company is the country’s largest producer of butanol.
SOURCE Prime Energy Service
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Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat signs EPC contract for acrylic acid facility
Mitsui Chemicals is considering starting the production of phenol derivatives like methyl isobutyl ketone and hydroquinone , which it produces in Japan, in Singapore's Sakra, Jurong Island, and inviting other companies to the site, to reinforce the foundation of its phenol business in Singapore. It also plans to integrate three currently separate instrument-panel rooms for its phenol and bisphenol A production facilities there in 2015.
Global demand for phenol declined in 2012, largely due to a slackened Chinese market, but the Asian market as a whole grew by an annual rate of some 6%. Sales of phenol produced by Mitsui's Singapore base expanded steadily in volume terms but profitability plunged as a result of higher costs for utilities, such as electricity and steam, in Jurong Island. Mitsui is looking into installing its own facilities for utilities, including supercritical-pressure coal-fired boilers that are designed to emit less carbon dioxide.
SOURCE Japan Chemical Web
Vincent Bolloré, PDG du groupe éponyme, a présenté mardi à la Ville de Bordeaux son système d'autopartage de voitures électriques, similaire à Autolib' lancé en 2011 à Paris, qu'il propose d'installer désormais à Bordeaux et à Lyon.
"On ne fera dans un premier temps que deux villes en France. Après, on ira à l'étranger et la première ville sera en Asie", a précisé M. Bolloré lors d'une conférence de presse.
Le projet bordelais est en cours de discussion et, tout comme celui de Lyon, n'a pas encore été signé. "Si on le fait, ce sera dans le mois qui vient", a souligné Alain Juppé, maire UMP de Bordeaux, qui a indiqué avec M. Bolloré que l'objectif était de "démarrer en septembre" et que ce système ne coûtera "rien à la collectivité".
"Nous finançons l'ensemble des infrastructures, installons et fournissons les véhicules et les personnes pour l'entretien et les réparations", a expliqué M. Bolloré. Il a estimé l'investissement nécessaire à 20 millions d'euros. L'équilibre financier sera atteint dès 10.000 abonnés à l'année, soit "d'ici trois à quatre ans, comme à Paris", a-t-il ajouté.
Sous un nom restant à définir mais différent que celui d'Autolib' utilisé à Paris, M. Bolloré prévoit dans un premier temps l'installation à Bordeaux de 90 véhicules, 40 stations et 180 bornes de charge.
L'abonnement pour le particulier serait fixé à 10 euros par mois et le coût de déplacement serait de cinq euros pour 30 minutes.
M. Juppé a expliqué qu'il n'était pas contraint de passer par un appel d'offres pour répondre à la proposition de M. Bolloré, "puisqu'on donne simplement une autorisation d'occupation de l'espace public".
Une autre condition à la signature est la compatibilité avec les projets de la communauté urbaine de Bordeaux (CUB), présidée par le socialiste Vincent Feltesse, possible futur rival de M. Juppé aux municipales en 2014, une décision sur la délégation de service public des transports devant être votée prochainement par la CUB.
Or, il existe depuis 2008 dans la CUB un système d'autopartage de 46 véhicules, baptisé Autocool et membre du réseau France Autopartage, groupement de 14 opérateurs desservant 50 villes. Autocool, société coopérative d'intérêt collectif, "coûte très, très peu à la collectivité", selon son directeur Nicolas Guenro.
Le jour même où le président du Grand Lyon présentait les innovations destinées à faire du Grand Lyon une agglomération "intelligente", Vincent Bolloré, président du groupe éponyme, annonçait que son système d’autopartage Autolib’ sera proposé aux Lyonnais et aux Villeurbannais avant la fin de cette année.
Un marché courtisé
Directement inspiré du modèle parisien qui fait ses preuves : 1,3 million de locations pour quatorze mois d’existence et 1 000 stations supplémentaires en prévision, le projet ne semble pas pour autant déplaire à la Communauté Urbaine de Lyon qui a aussitôt reconnu qu’ "un travail est effectivement engagé avec le groupe Bolloré depuis plusieurs semaines pour proposer une nouvelle offre d’autopartage qui serait composée de véhicules électriques fonctionnant avec de l’énergie verte, répartis sur Lyon et Villeurbanne". Une nouvelle offre effectivement, car il existe déjà un système Autolib’ lyonnais qui a vu le jour en 2003 sous forme associative avant d’être repris, en 2011, par Lyon Parc Auto, société dans laquelle la ville de Lyon, la Communauté Urbaine et le département du Rhône détiennent plus de 60 % du capital. A ce jour, cette offre revendique une centaine de véhicules une trentaine d’emplacements et 1 500 abonnés. Plus récemment, on se souvient de l’expérience de Car2go, mise en place en 2012, dont la société régionale de location de véhicules automobile Cargo, a déjà assigné la société allemande Daimler et Europcar, promoteurs de Car2go pour concurrence déloyale et plagiat auprès du tribunal de grande instance de Paris. Le Grand Lyon, lui, n’avait rien vu venir !
http://www.busetcar.com/actualites/detail/63172/bollore-sera-a-lyon-avant-la-fin -de-l-annee.html
Arkema’s fourth-quarter results match conditions in the acrylates sector, where producers have faced squeezed margins, despite healthy sales volumes.
Arkema’s fourth-quarter sales rose by 3.4% year on year to €1.45bn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up by 8.2% at €171m, the French specialty chemicals maker said in a statement on Thursday.
Although demand was steady in the fourth quarter, weakened macroeconomic conditions clouded visibility and tempered prices in the acrylates sector, while producers had tried to recoup margins that had eroded in 2012 on high feedstock costs.
October acrylates contract prices rolled over, while upstream propylene prices dipped by €20/tonne in October. Despite the decrease for feedstock propylene in November, acrylate esters contract prices increased slightly or rolled over that month, as producers focused on margin recovery. December acrylate esters contract prices fell by €17/tonne, in line with the upstream propylene decrease.
October, November and December propylene contracts fell by a total of €57/tonne.
Looking ahead, acrylate esters producers are aiming for March price increases to recover margins, but initial discussions have met buyer resistance as demand has not yet picked up significantly. The March propylene contract price has risen by €55/tonne.
One acrylic acid (AA) producer explained that price hikes are being targeted because of higher US prices and margin recovery. “It is the low price level in the market, as well as the expensive raw material increases in Europe, that are forcing us to try to get some improvement on margins. We cannot keep the lag on the increase on our AA and esters prices while we get the increases on the raw materials and suffer with poor margins.”
“There is every need to increase the margins on the products after the demise during last year,” another producer said. “Demand remains good and seems to be looking likely to remain so in March and April, but visibility is still not great.”
Buying interest is expected to pick up in the next few weeks as activity from the construction sector typically ramps up in spring in Europe.
Arkema produces 250,000 tonnes/year of AA from its site in Carling, France, accounting for a large proportion of the European market.
SOURCE ICIS News - For internal use only