Epoxy
January 20, 2022
Chinese Olympics Shutdown Update
Burst! Nearly 10,000 Chemical Plants Shut Down! “Suspension” Comes Anytime!
ECHEMI 2022-01-20
Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that in order to ensure the safe and smooth holding of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, maintain the order of radio waves in venues and special control areas, and ensure the normal use of various types of radio equipment used for event business, the decision was made. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, radio control will be implemented in parts of Beijing and Hebei Province. It is also clarified that those who violate the provisions of this notice shall be handled by the radio management agency in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state and this city; if a crime is constituted, it shall be transferred to the judicial organ for criminal responsibility according to law.
In addition to the regulation of radio, other industries have recently expressed that they have received “control notices”. A chemical company in Shandong responded that it received an oral notice from a superior to stop production from January 30 to February 20 and from March 4 to March 13 this year. The paint procurement network has communicated and verified with many chemical companies and found that this is not an isolated case. Many chemical companies in Hebei, Henan and other regions said that they have been notified that they are about to stop production.
The reasons for the shutdown of production are basically the same for all companies. Winter is the heating season, and it is prone to frequent heavy pollution. Therefore, the situation of staggered peak shutdown and production restrictions persists. In addition, some companies said that companies with boilers must stop production, which is equivalent to “seal” for chemical companies.
Chemical companies are no strangers to production suspensions and production restrictions. In 2021, chemical companies have experienced shutdowns due to the epidemic, dual control of energy consumption and production restrictions, environmental protection shutdown orders during the heating season, and multiple rounds of emergency response in heavily polluted weather. Production is discontinued. I finally got through 2021 and ushered in 2022. I didn’t expect to encounter many obstacles in the beginning of the year. The overseas epidemic has invaded, and the delivery of high-end imported raw materials has been delayed. Due to the epidemic, many places in China have closed high-speed entrances and exits, temporary traffic control, and enterprises have stopped work and production. Some chemical companies were planning to close the holiday early, but they did not expect to receive a notice before the holiday, and arranged to stop work for two months after the year, which made many chemical workers lament.
Tens of thousands of chemical companies may be affected, and a variety of chemical products are facing “out of stock”!
Once production is stopped and restricted, the inventory in the market will definitely be affected. So, what chemical products will be affected by the suspension of production and production in the above major chemical provinces? According to incomplete statistics from the Paint Purchasing Network, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei are all important chemical towns, and there are many industrial chains of chemical products.
Shandong: There are more than 7,700 chemical enterprises, and the output of many chemical sectors ranks first in the country
Shandong is a major chemical province, and the total chemical economy has ranked first in the country for 28 consecutive years. The chemical products of national key statistics are all distributed, forming the “seven major sectors” industrial system of refining, chemical fertilizer, inorganic chemical, organic chemical, rubber processing, fine chemical, and synthetic materials, and the output of key chemical products ranks in the forefront of the country. At present, there are 84 chemical parks in Shandong, with more than 7,700 chemical enterprises.
From the perspective of supply, the output of chemical products in Shandong Province accounts for a high proportion of the country, and it is concentrated in traditional industries such as chlor-alkali, plastics, and fertilizers. The output of crude oil processing, tires, fertilizers, pesticides, caustic soda and other products ranks among the top in the country. From the perspective of industrial classification, Shandong’s oil refining (including refining and chemical integrated enterprises) and chemical (including petrochemical, coal chemical, salt chemical, tire, new materials, fine chemical) enterprises have relatively large production capacity.
Local companies include Sinopec, Wanhua Chemical, Hengli Petrochemical, Rongsheng Petrochemical, Enjie, Baofeng Energy, China Jushi, Hualu Hengsheng, Tinci Materials, Dongming Petrochemical, Lihuayi, Haike Group, Jingbo Group, Qilu Petrochemical, Luxi Chemical, Lubei Chemical, Shida Shenghua, Qixiang Tengda.
Henan: more than 2,000 well-known chemical companies, including petrochemical and coking industry chains
Henan Province includes 47 chemical industry parks (including chemical industry agglomeration areas, chemical industry characteristic industrial parks, professional chemical industry parks, etc.) and more than 2,000 well-known chemical enterprises. Mainly in petrochemical, coking-based. Henan Province proposes to build a nationally important 500 billion-level modern industrial cluster by 2025. Cultivate industrial chains of hundreds of billions of dollars such as modern coal chemical industry and high-end petrochemical industry, develop characteristic industrial chains such as chlor-alkali chemical industry, fluorine chemical industry, functional materials, etc., accelerate the transformation of traditional chemical industry to fine chemical industry, and improve the intrinsic safety and green level of the chemical industry.
Well-known chemical companies in Henan include Longbai Group, Shenma Co., Ltd., Polyfluoride, Ruifeng New Materials, Xinxiang Chemical Fiber, Henan Energy Chemical Group Co., Ltd., Haohua Yuhang Chemical Co., Ltd., etc.
Hebei: more than 2,200 well-known chemical companies, with a wide distribution of salt chemical and fine chemical industry chains.
Hebei Province is an important chemical base in China. The top 500 chemical companies account for about 8% of the country’s total, second only to Shandong Province and Jiangsu Province. Including 19 chemical parks and more than 2,200 well-known chemical companies.
Hebei Province has formed an industrial system focusing on oil and gas exploration, oil refining, coal chemical industry, salt chemical industry and fine chemical industry. The output of caustic soda accounts for about 4% of the national output, and the output of soda ash accounts for more than 12% of the national output. Well-known chemical companies include Sanyou Chemical, Longxing Chemical, Jizhong Energy, Cangzhou Dahua, Jianxin Co., Ltd. and Kailuan Co., Ltd.
It is not difficult to see that there are more than 10,000 well-known chemical companies in the above regions, covering Wanhua Chemical, Hengli Petrochemical, Luxi Chemical, Shida Shenghua, Qixiang Tengda, Longbai Group, Shenma, Dofluoroduo, Sanyou Chemical, Cangzhou Dahua and many other well-known chemical companies. Although the local listed chemical companies have not yet issued an announcement on the suspension of production and production, the “all factories shut down” and “all those with boilers” mentioned by local companies have obviously brought anxiety to many companies.
As the Spring Festival is approaching, more and more companies are beginning to take holidays, but no one can say with certainty when they can resume work after the festival, or when they will resume production at full capacity. That is to say, large factories in these areas will face the dilemma of shutting down production, and the market inventory of chemical products in the coal chemical, petrochemical, coking refining and fine chemical industry chains will all have the risk of sharp decline. A wave of out-of-stocks.
January 18, 2022
Schneider To Shutter Canadian Operations
Schneider to shut down Canadian operations
Truckload carrier says being in Canada doesn’t fit with “long-term strategic focus”
Nate Tabak Follow on Twitter Friday, January 14, 2022 1 minute read
Listen to this article 0:00 / 1:47 BeyondWords
Schneider National plans to shut down its Canada-based operations and sell off its single terminal in Ontario, the company said Friday.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin-based trucking and logistics firm said the closure will affect about 150 people, including drivers and other personnel based in Guelph, Ontario. The company plans to wind down operations by the end of March.
“Despite the dedication and best efforts over many years, Canadian-based operations do not fit within Schneider’s long-term strategic focus,” the company said in a statement. “This decision was difficult.”
A company spokesperson declined to elaborate on why it decided to pull out of Canada. But the spokesperson said the vaccine mandates coming for cross-border truckers as well as Canadian carriers regulated by the federal government did not factor into the decision.
Schneider (NYSE:SNDR) will continue to serve Canadian customers through U.S.-based cross-border services. The company plans to transfer its trucks and other equipment to the U.S.
Schneider’s Canadian operation, which provides truckload services, represents a tiny portion of its business. The company brought in $1.1 billion in revenue excluding fuel surcharge in the third quarter.
The FREIGHTWAVES TOP 500 For-Hire Carriers list includes Schneider (No. 7).
January 18, 2022
Schneider To Shutter Canadian Operations
Schneider to shut down Canadian operations
Truckload carrier says being in Canada doesn’t fit with “long-term strategic focus”
Nate Tabak Follow on Twitter Friday, January 14, 2022 1 minute read
Listen to this article 0:00 / 1:47 BeyondWords
Schneider National plans to shut down its Canada-based operations and sell off its single terminal in Ontario, the company said Friday.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin-based trucking and logistics firm said the closure will affect about 150 people, including drivers and other personnel based in Guelph, Ontario. The company plans to wind down operations by the end of March.
“Despite the dedication and best efforts over many years, Canadian-based operations do not fit within Schneider’s long-term strategic focus,” the company said in a statement. “This decision was difficult.”
A company spokesperson declined to elaborate on why it decided to pull out of Canada. But the spokesperson said the vaccine mandates coming for cross-border truckers as well as Canadian carriers regulated by the federal government did not factor into the decision.
Schneider (NYSE:SNDR) will continue to serve Canadian customers through U.S.-based cross-border services. The company plans to transfer its trucks and other equipment to the U.S.
Schneider’s Canadian operation, which provides truckload services, represents a tiny portion of its business. The company brought in $1.1 billion in revenue excluding fuel surcharge in the third quarter.
The FREIGHTWAVES TOP 500 For-Hire Carriers list includes Schneider (No. 7).
January 13, 2022
Drama at Huntsman
Huntsman Highlights Recent Strategic Actions to Enhance Shareholder Value
Download as PDF January 12, 2022 5:47pm EST
Sets the Record Straight Regarding Starboard’s Misstatements
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) issued the following statement in response to the letter and nomination notice the Company received from Starboard Value LP today:
At Huntsman’s Investor Day in November, we announced financial targets building on the strongest profit and margin performance the Company has ever achieved with its current portfolio of businesses. The Huntsman Board of Directors actively oversaw that performance and it continues to oversee the Company’s announced comprehensive initiatives, all of which enhance accountability and alignment with our shareholders, including:
- Initiating a strategic review process for the Textile Effects Division to continue advancing our focus on portfolio enhancement;
- Authorizing new share repurchases of $1 billion over the next three years, building on the $682 million of share repurchases Huntsman has completed since 2018;
- Implementing a multi-year incentive compensation program for all Huntsman officers and vice presidents that ties the vast majority of their incentive compensation to the achievement of the Investor Day targets, thereby promoting transparency, ensuring objective accountability and fostering execution; and
- Substantially completing the Board refreshment process that began in 2018 by adding David B. Sewell, José Muñoz and Curtis E. Espeland, highly-qualified and independent Directors who were identified by a leading international search firm, to a group of diverse and experienced independent Directors including four recent additions: U.S. Navy (retired) Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, who joined the Board in 2019 and chairs the Board’s Sustainability Committee; Sonia Dulá, who joined the Board in 2020 and is Chair Apparent of the Compensation Committee; Jeanne McGovern, who joined the Board in 2021 and chairs the Audit Committee; and Cynthia Egan, who joined the Board in 2020, chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and serves as Non-Executive Vice Chair and Lead Independent Director.
Importantly, these recent initiatives are the latest steps in the strategy we began executing in 2017. Since that time, the Board has overseen a significant repositioning of the Huntsman portfolio that has generated meaningful shareholder value. The Company has divested ~40% of its businesses, including the sale of its commodity portfolio to Indorama in 2020 for ~$2 billion. The Indorama announcement intensified Huntsman’s focus on differentiated, high-margin and downstream product lines, which led to 105.8% of total shareholder return (TSR) through January 11, 2022, 42.4 percentage points better than the performance of the S&P 500 over the same period.
Huntsman values the views of all of our shareholders, including Starboard, and maintains an open dialogue with them. Although our normal policy is not to comment on individual conversations, members of our Board and the executive management team have held numerous discussions with Starboard over the past several months.
Huntsman’s engagement with Starboard has been frequent and extensive since the outset. Soon after Starboard disclosed their stake, we invited Starboard to our headquarters to understand their perspectives. We previewed our Investor Day presentation with Starboard and incorporated input from them. There was, and continued to be, no misalignment with Starboard on the Company’s objectives and strategic initiatives.
Huntsman has continued to keep lines of communication with Starboard open and promptly responded to every outreach they made. In particular, Huntsman repeatedly told Starboard that its ongoing Board refreshment was moving forward:
- When Starboard told us that they had specific director candidates ready more than a month ago, on December 9, 2021, Huntsman immediately asked for those candidates’ names so that our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee could consider them alongside the candidates previously identified by the independent search firm;
- Between December 9, 2021 and January 5, 2022 Huntsman repeatedly sought those names and none were given;
- Instead, Starboard insisted that Huntsman’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee surrender its duties, appoint Starboard’s three unidentified candidates and remove two Huntsman Directors;
- On December 23, 2021, instead of providing the requested names, Starboard asked for the Huntsman D&O questionnaires, a required step towards making nominations and a clear indication of Starboard’s readiness to engage in a proxy contest;
- Given these unconstructive responses from Starboard, Huntsman’s Board determined that the continuation of our active board refreshment and the expeditious holding of the upcoming annual meeting was in the best interests of our shareholders and appointed three highly-qualified, independent directors (Messrs. Sewell, Muñoz and Espeland) and announced the date of our annual meeting;
- Only after these announcements, on the evening of January 5, 2022, did Starboard finally share the names of three candidates (Jeff Smith, James L. Gallogly and Sandra Beach Lin). Within 48 hours, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee had interviewed Starboard’s two outside candidates, James and Sandra; and
- Following these interviews, the Company attempted to work constructively with Starboard to reach an agreement and avoid a proxy contest. Despite Huntsman’s multiple good faith attempts to reach an amicable outcome in the best interests of all Huntsman shareholders, an agreement could not be reached.
We are deeply disappointed that Starboard is forcing Huntsman and its shareholders through the cost and distraction of an unnecessary proxy contest. Starboard is more concerned with installing their handpicked candidates on Huntsman’s Board than allowing the Board and management team to create shareholder value, through our multiple initiatives that Starboard supports. The Board expects shareholders will appreciate the independence, experience and expertise of Huntsman’s refreshed Board of Directors, and they will benefit from a relentless and undistracted focus on clear financial targets designed to generate transparency and accountability for three successive years of record improved performance. Huntsman’s Board has determined that it is in the best interests of shareholders to let them resolve this situation expeditiously.
Huntsman continues to welcome constructive insights from our shareholders and remains committed to taking decisive actions to drive sustainable value creation.
Shareholders are not required to take any action at this time. The Board will review the nomination notice pursuant to established policies and present its recommendations with respect to the election of directors in the Company’s definitive proxy statement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and mailed to all shareholders eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting. As previously disclosed, the Annual Meeting will take place on March 25, 2022.
January 13, 2022
Drama at Huntsman
Huntsman Highlights Recent Strategic Actions to Enhance Shareholder Value
Download as PDF January 12, 2022 5:47pm EST
Sets the Record Straight Regarding Starboard’s Misstatements
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) issued the following statement in response to the letter and nomination notice the Company received from Starboard Value LP today:
At Huntsman’s Investor Day in November, we announced financial targets building on the strongest profit and margin performance the Company has ever achieved with its current portfolio of businesses. The Huntsman Board of Directors actively oversaw that performance and it continues to oversee the Company’s announced comprehensive initiatives, all of which enhance accountability and alignment with our shareholders, including:
- Initiating a strategic review process for the Textile Effects Division to continue advancing our focus on portfolio enhancement;
- Authorizing new share repurchases of $1 billion over the next three years, building on the $682 million of share repurchases Huntsman has completed since 2018;
- Implementing a multi-year incentive compensation program for all Huntsman officers and vice presidents that ties the vast majority of their incentive compensation to the achievement of the Investor Day targets, thereby promoting transparency, ensuring objective accountability and fostering execution; and
- Substantially completing the Board refreshment process that began in 2018 by adding David B. Sewell, José Muñoz and Curtis E. Espeland, highly-qualified and independent Directors who were identified by a leading international search firm, to a group of diverse and experienced independent Directors including four recent additions: U.S. Navy (retired) Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, who joined the Board in 2019 and chairs the Board’s Sustainability Committee; Sonia Dulá, who joined the Board in 2020 and is Chair Apparent of the Compensation Committee; Jeanne McGovern, who joined the Board in 2021 and chairs the Audit Committee; and Cynthia Egan, who joined the Board in 2020, chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and serves as Non-Executive Vice Chair and Lead Independent Director.
Importantly, these recent initiatives are the latest steps in the strategy we began executing in 2017. Since that time, the Board has overseen a significant repositioning of the Huntsman portfolio that has generated meaningful shareholder value. The Company has divested ~40% of its businesses, including the sale of its commodity portfolio to Indorama in 2020 for ~$2 billion. The Indorama announcement intensified Huntsman’s focus on differentiated, high-margin and downstream product lines, which led to 105.8% of total shareholder return (TSR) through January 11, 2022, 42.4 percentage points better than the performance of the S&P 500 over the same period.
Huntsman values the views of all of our shareholders, including Starboard, and maintains an open dialogue with them. Although our normal policy is not to comment on individual conversations, members of our Board and the executive management team have held numerous discussions with Starboard over the past several months.
Huntsman’s engagement with Starboard has been frequent and extensive since the outset. Soon after Starboard disclosed their stake, we invited Starboard to our headquarters to understand their perspectives. We previewed our Investor Day presentation with Starboard and incorporated input from them. There was, and continued to be, no misalignment with Starboard on the Company’s objectives and strategic initiatives.
Huntsman has continued to keep lines of communication with Starboard open and promptly responded to every outreach they made. In particular, Huntsman repeatedly told Starboard that its ongoing Board refreshment was moving forward:
- When Starboard told us that they had specific director candidates ready more than a month ago, on December 9, 2021, Huntsman immediately asked for those candidates’ names so that our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee could consider them alongside the candidates previously identified by the independent search firm;
- Between December 9, 2021 and January 5, 2022 Huntsman repeatedly sought those names and none were given;
- Instead, Starboard insisted that Huntsman’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee surrender its duties, appoint Starboard’s three unidentified candidates and remove two Huntsman Directors;
- On December 23, 2021, instead of providing the requested names, Starboard asked for the Huntsman D&O questionnaires, a required step towards making nominations and a clear indication of Starboard’s readiness to engage in a proxy contest;
- Given these unconstructive responses from Starboard, Huntsman’s Board determined that the continuation of our active board refreshment and the expeditious holding of the upcoming annual meeting was in the best interests of our shareholders and appointed three highly-qualified, independent directors (Messrs. Sewell, Muñoz and Espeland) and announced the date of our annual meeting;
- Only after these announcements, on the evening of January 5, 2022, did Starboard finally share the names of three candidates (Jeff Smith, James L. Gallogly and Sandra Beach Lin). Within 48 hours, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee had interviewed Starboard’s two outside candidates, James and Sandra; and
- Following these interviews, the Company attempted to work constructively with Starboard to reach an agreement and avoid a proxy contest. Despite Huntsman’s multiple good faith attempts to reach an amicable outcome in the best interests of all Huntsman shareholders, an agreement could not be reached.
We are deeply disappointed that Starboard is forcing Huntsman and its shareholders through the cost and distraction of an unnecessary proxy contest. Starboard is more concerned with installing their handpicked candidates on Huntsman’s Board than allowing the Board and management team to create shareholder value, through our multiple initiatives that Starboard supports. The Board expects shareholders will appreciate the independence, experience and expertise of Huntsman’s refreshed Board of Directors, and they will benefit from a relentless and undistracted focus on clear financial targets designed to generate transparency and accountability for three successive years of record improved performance. Huntsman’s Board has determined that it is in the best interests of shareholders to let them resolve this situation expeditiously.
Huntsman continues to welcome constructive insights from our shareholders and remains committed to taking decisive actions to drive sustainable value creation.
Shareholders are not required to take any action at this time. The Board will review the nomination notice pursuant to established policies and present its recommendations with respect to the election of directors in the Company’s definitive proxy statement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and mailed to all shareholders eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting. As previously disclosed, the Annual Meeting will take place on March 25, 2022.
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