15/05/2013
Shale gas projects affect green chemistry Autor: Jornal do Comércio
Jefferson Klein
The so-called green chemistry (which uses as raw material input sources, such as cane sugar), some years ago, it was a trend and was presented as a promising market. However, currently, the sector faces increasingly new obstacles to their growth. The threat of the time goes by the name of shale gas (gas extracted from shale rocks), which represents a cost differential in favor of the companies located in the United States.
The director of consulting Maxiquim Otavio Carvalho says that the green represents a gain of marketing due to environmental appeal. However, as the costs, it is more expensive than the material manufactured from fossil feedstock. This difference tends to increase with the use of shale gas in the U.S.. Carvalho estimates that natural gas in Brazil is today, about two and a half times more expensive than the shale.
If the situation affects the chemical and petrochemical conventional, the problem is intensified in the green segment. Recently, companies Dow Chemical and Mitsui decided to postpone construction in Minas Gerais, a green polyethylene plant. Another complex that follows with indefinite timeline unit is Braskem's green polypropylene (Rio Grande do Sul is one of the candidates to receive this investment). The structure must have a minimum production capacity of 30,000 tons per year and must absorb around £ 170 million. In 2010, Braskem inaugurated its first plant in Triunfo. The unit received an investment of $ 500 million and has an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons of ethylene, which are converted into 200,000 tons of polyethylene, for the production of bags and other packaging items.
Carvalho notes that shale gas represents double impact for the petrochemical chain: a cheaper source for the generation of electric energy and feedstock for petrochemicals. "The great advantage of the Americans is that they now have the two things accessible," adds the director of Maxiquim. He argues that shale gas is something that should not scare Brazilian companies, but they will have to prepare for this new scenario that presents itself. "The impact is important, it is a revolution in the United States, and this effect ends up coming here in the form of cheaper products," says the consultant. Moreover, it highlights that some investments that could be made in Brazil may be attracted to the United States due to the cost of the raw material.
Carvalho considers it necessary to seek a parity of raw material with the Americans. The federal government already has signaled that it will take measures to protect the chemical industry. Last month, it announced the expansion of PIS / COFINS by purchases of petrochemical raw materials such as naphtha, HLR, ethane, propane, butane, and the first generation petrochemical products - ethylene, propylene, butene, butadiene, orthoxylene, benzene, toluene, paraxylene and isoprene. In practice, to purchase inputs for the manufacture of chemicals, companies collect 1% of PIS / COFINS and take a tax credit of 9.25%. Such tax incentives started this year, and its duration will be 2015. From 2016, the value of the tax credit will fall 2% per year, so that in 2016 will be reduced from 8.25% to 6.25% in 2017 to 4.25% and, in 2018, around the current level of 3.65%.
According to the Director of Economics and Statistics of the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (Abiquim), Fatima Ferreira Giovanna Coviello, this was one of the key measures by Abiquim pled during discussions in the Council on Competitiveness, especially when one takes into account the weight of the raw material, of the order of 70%. Nevertheless, Fatima ponders the importance of other measures advocated by Abiquim: specific policy for the use of natural gas as feedstock, investment relief and encouragement to R & D.
