Chemicals

​Australian-born Dow Chemical chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris has criticised recent cuts to R&D in the budget and the overall state of federal politics.

Orica will pursue the separation of its chemicals business from its core mining services business, either by demerger or sale.

​Coogee Chemicals has announced that a succession plan is in place, with Gordon Martin to hand over control to his son, Tim.

Penrice Soda’s decision to close its chemical plant in Adelaide has raised the question of who will pay for its environmental remediation.

The barriers to a sale of the Osborne plant proved too high for the preferred bidder.

​New Zealand’s manufacturing sector’s sales volumes were up 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

There are hopes that potential buyers of Penrice Soda Holdings may want to take continuing operating the company and jobs there could be saved.

​Home improvements manufacturers DuluxGroup has announced an increase in first-half profits of over a third.

Samsung had earlier claimed they manufacture biosimilars at half the cost of what Western drugmakers would have to charge.

Agricultural chemicals manufacturer Nufarm will close its Auckland manufacturing plant and, as a result, up to 59 jobs will be lost.

Adelaide soda products and lime producer Penrice Soda Holdings has been placed into administration as it looks for a solution to a $117 million debt.

Traditional methods of biodiesel production use high volumes of water to remove impurities or soaps to meet stringent quality standards.

Nufarm will increase its emphasis on product development as it restructures, closing two manufacturing sites and cutting 105 jobs.

The chemicals and plastics industry association believes the country can achieve sustained growth by taking advantage of major global and domestic economic, social and environmental shifts.

The need for energy efficiency in the operations of the chemical manufacturers is lending impetus to the automation and software solutions market in Australia and New Zealand.

The division makes agricultural products and paints and is hurting because of the downturn in manufacturing.

The Plastics and Chemicals Industry Association has announced that the organisation’s CEO Margaret Donnan will be departing after six years in the role

Peter Reith’s Gas Market Taskforce report for the Victorian Government came with high expectations.

A new report into manufacturing has found that the drop in the sector’s productivity has occurred mainly in three subsectors.

Nuplex has announced that it expects global sales to increase at 4 to 7 per cent a year up to 2018, with a significant increase in earnings from Asia.