Delta Group is engaged in the development and supply of prepreg, primarily for the premium automotive sector. So far, Toray has been enhancing a cooperative relationship with the Delta Group through supply of carbon fiber Torayca, and this stock acquisition significantly reinforces its carbon fibre business in Europe along with Composite Materials (Italy) s.r.l (abbr. CIT) it established by acquiring the carbon fibre textile and prepreg business from Saati S.p.A. in January this year.

Having both CIT and Delta Group under its umbrella while at the same time expanding products that exploit their respective strengths, Toray are able to respond to market requirements that are getting even more sophisticated, especially to conquer new frontiers in the carbon fibre composites industry. It also enhances Toray’s structure to offer solutions to customers at each level of its own integrated supply chain by combining its French and German subsidiaries that produce and distribute carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts.

Under the current medium-term management program Project AP-G 2016, Toray positions the Carbon Fibre Composite Materials Business as one of the Strategically Expanding Businesses and is pursuing business expansion through active investment of management resources. Going forward, it will continue to drive forward further business expansion through sophistication of the business by enhancing its supply chain in each region of Americas, Europe and Asia.

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GlassFibreEurope represents the interests of European glass fibre manufacturers and their 5,000 employees. The European Commission initiated an interim review of the existing anti-dumping measures on glass fibre imports from China on 18 December 2013, and a new anti-subsidy proceeding on 12 December 2013. After a thorough investigation, the European Commission established that Chinese manufacturers dump glass fibre at predatory prices to seize EU market share, and receive illegal subsidies from the Chinese government.

Therefore, the European Commission notified parties of its intent to impose new anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in early October 2014. The final proposal to impose total duties which are generally up to 25–30% on imports from Chinese producers was supported by EU Member States on 26 November 2014.

Mauro Malanchini, President of GlassFibreEurope commented:

We welcome the decision by EU Member States to support the European Commission’s proposal to impose trade defence measures against Chinese glass fibre manufacturers. Unfair competition from China has caused considerable injury to European industry, with the loss of European factories and jobs in an important strategic sector. We hope the new measures will restore healthy competition in the EU glass fibre market for the benefit of producers and downstream users alike.

The organisation say that the new EU measures will help avoid a situation where important European industries like the automotive and renewable sectors would become increasingly dependent on Chinese State-controlled glass fibre supply.

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Established in 2006, Plasan, leveraging its proprietary high-speed Pressure Press moulding technology, is the sole U.S. Tier 1 supplier of CFRP-based exterior body panels for Performance and Luxury cars of U.S. automobile manufacturers. Plasan uses Toray’s rapid curing, thermoset resin prepreg based on carbon fibres produced by Toray’s U.S. subsidiary Toray Carbon Fibres America, Inc. for its high-speed Pressure Press moulding.

Toray has been working on enhancement of its business bases around the world to create a carbon fibre market for automotive applications. In Japan and the rest of Asia the company has been designing CFRP products and developing manufacturing technologies and products.

In Europe, which is quite advanced in the adoption of CFRP auto parts, Toray in 2008 took a stake in ACE Advanced Composite Engineering GmbH, a manufacturer and distributer of CFRP parts, and in 2011 established Euro Advanced Carbon Fibre Composites GmbH jointly with Daimler AG to drive forward development of market and applications.

The capital participation in PCC completes Toray’s automobile application supply chain starting from carbon fibres to intermediate base materials to moulded components in the major markets around the world.

Under Toray’s medium-term management program, which positions automobiles and aircraft as one of the major growing business fields, the company aims to significantly expand its business in the field by proactively allocating business resources. The carbon fiber composite material business is at the heart of the endeavor and Toray will expand the use of CFRP in the automobile field, which is expected to be a major application following the aerospace industry.

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The sale is expected to result in a second quarter pre-tax loss of approximately $12.5 million. The divestiture was factored into Cytec’s previously communicated sales and as-adjusted earnings guidance. The Distribution product line had revenues of approximately $20 million in the first five months of 2013.

Effective immediately, Cathay Investments will rename the business to form Cathay Composites, the new company will continue Ashland’s distribution and agency accounts, retaining the existing management and organisational structure in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Estonia and Finland. Cathay Composites will distribute Ashland’s full line of polyester and vinyl ester resins, premium gelcoats and low-profile additives to the, marine, building and construction and transportation markets.

Andrew Miller, sales director composites, Ashland Performance Materials said;

We are excited to continue our long-standing, successful relationship with Umeco, now named Cathay Composites, together, we offer our customers a broad portfolio of industry-leading product lines. We look forward to leveraging the local knowledge of our new partner to deliver clear best-in-class composites products and services.

Additionally, effective immediately, Quimidroga France will take over Ashland’s distribution and agency accounts from Umeco, and will distribute Ashland’s full line of polyester and vinyl ester resins and premium gelcoats and low-profile additives to the composites market in France. Quimidroga currently distributes Ashland’s complete portfolio of composites products to manufacturers in Spain, Portugal and North Africa.

Cytec also announced, in agreement with its joint venture partner, it has exited and shutdown their Process Materials Joint Venture in China and will enter liquidation. The Joint Venture, which served the Chinese wind market, was operated under the Industrial Materials business and was acquired as part of the Umeco acquisition. Cytec’s share of the venture’s operating losses were approximately $0.6 million annually. The closure will result in a second quarter pre-tax charge of approximately $3.3 million.

The company also outlines its initiative to move all production operations from the Costa Mesa, Adelanto and Huntington Beach, California sites, each acquired from the Umeco acquisition, into its Winona, Minnesota and Tulsa, Oklahoma locations. Approximately 120 employees will be impacted by this move. The estimated total cost of this initiative is approximately $27 million which includes about $13 million of capital required to move the products into the existing operations and approximately $3.5 million for non-cash accelerated depreciation expense. The remaining costs are for retention and severance plans, product re-qualifications, certain lease liabilities on impacted facilities and clean-up costs. Product resites and re-qualifications will begin immediately with final completion by year-end 2014 and once completed, annual savings are expected to be $3 to $4 million. Final closure of these California facilities is expected by mid-2015. As a result of the above, Cytec will record a pre-tax restructuring charge in the second quarter of 2013 of approximately $1 million with essentially all of the expense amount recorded over the second half of 2013 and full year 2014.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the European Building and Construction Composites Market, finds that the market earned revenues of 798.5 million euros in 2012 and estimates this to reach 1,186.1 million euros in 2019.

Frost & Sullivan Chemicals, Materials and Food Industry Analyst Sandeepan Mondal said;

Composites offer design flexibility, corrosion resistance, durability, easy installation, weatherproofing, and weight reduction. These benefits spur the market in Europe. Recommendations by architects and engineers have also played a vital role in popularising composites, especially in emerging applications such as bridges, fibre-reinforced plastic panels, rebars, and door and window profiles.

Despite its advantages over traditional materials like metals, composites are seeing limited use in building and construction due to high raw material and fabrication costs. With the economic slowdown, tier-I manufacturers, contractors and engineering firms in Europe have become extremely cautious with their budgets, restraining investments in composite parts.

The building and construction industry’s unfamiliarity with composites has further pushed adoption to the back burner. Difficulty in manufacturing, repairing and recycling composites adds to the challenge. In fact, the general perception is that full transition to composites is still 10 to 15 years away, and using composites along with metals is the way forward.

Therefore, collaboration between composite suppliers and part manufacturers is a crucial step towards quickening technical advancements and improving consumer awareness. Existing competitors can acquire smaller composite manufacturers to strengthen their product portfolio and appeal to a broader customer base.

The post Infrastructure Expansion Grows European Construction Composites Market appeared first on Composites Today.

In Europe the prices will be increased by €100 metric ton for all products sold, the price will increase on March 15th 2013. AOC have also announced a price increase for all Vinyl Ester products in the amount of US$0.06/lb in the U.S. and CN$0.14/kilo in Canada for all products shipped on or after March 16, 2013

This action is again due to ongoing escalation of raw material prices which continues to increase operational costs.

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Fons Harbers, EMEAI Sales Director says that the prices rise is down to the continued increase in costs for key raw materials.

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The pricing action is primarily driven by the continued escalation in costs for key raw materials at Ashland’s manufacturing units. Responding to changing market conditions allows Ashland to continue to provide innovative products and industry-leading support that add value for customers.

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Alberto Piccinotti, Vice-President Commercial Europe stated;

The sharp increase in raw material prices leave us no choice but to raise our prices immediately. Raw material costs are expected to remain volatile for the foreseeable future given uncertainties in the global economies. We appreciate the understanding of our customers as we continue doing everything possible to limit the impact of rising costs and limited raw material availability upon product pricing and supply.

The company have also announced a general price increase of 5% on all coating resins sold in North America effective for orders on or after February 15th 2013.

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It is important for the future that companies in the market for fibre reinforced plastics and composites ask themselves a number of questions. How can the potential of this relatively young sector of the plastics industry (compared to other materials) can be publicised and developed even more effectively? How can production and demand in the sector be developed faster than the overall economy? The currently hot topics of series production, substitution of other materials, innovation and precisely targeted combinations of materials contin- ue to offer enormous opportunities for this branch of industry.

Total European GRP production generally fell slightly compared to last year. To evaluate this development in detail, as in previous years, it is essential to take a closer look at the individual manufacturing processes, countries and applications. There is no other way of clearly describing the development of this ex- tremely heterogeneous market. As a specialist segment of the plastics industry, the GRP industry essentially tracked the general development of the plastics processing industry as it has done in previous years.

A survey conducted by the German composites association once again gathered information about GRP production volumes in Europe in 2012. To make it possible to compare this information with data from previous years, “Europe” as resented here again only includes those countries whose production data was explicitly available to the raw materials suppliers surveyed. In addition, this year’s figures for the first time include Turkey, which is becoming an ever more important player in the European composites industry, as well as data from other countries from South-Eastern Europe and Western Asia that have not previously been taken into account. In the following, the term GRP includes all materials with a thermoset matrix as well as glass mat reinforced thermoplastics (GMT) and long fibre reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), Short fibre reinforced thermoplastics are not included here. The market for additional reinforcing fibres (e.g. natural fibres) will not be considered here. Generally, approx. 95% of fibre composites are still manufactured from GRP, i.e. the most commonly used reinforcing fibres are glass fibres (short and long fibres, rovings, fabrics).

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