Visit by Australian chemical team

Media

Part of The Philippines Herald

Title: Visit by Australian chemical team
Language: English
Source: The Philippines Herald (November 12, 1970)
Year: 1970
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Fulltext: Message I am pleased to take this op portunity to let you know about current trading activities bet ween the Philippines and Aus tralia and what steps are cur rently being done to further our mutual efforts to develop reciprocal trade. Next week, a Tasmanian gov ernment trade mission will vi sit Manila to explore the possi bilities for joint venture pro jects in the fields of agricul ture, dairying and cattle raising — they will be here for three days. hium December 2nd to 5th, the Chemical Industries Trade Mission, about which I have al ready announced the details, will be in Manila. Detailed plans for these two missions are now well advanof the Trade Commissioner ced. However, businessmen wishing to meet with members of either of these 2 missions may still do,so if they will con tact the Trade Commission without further delay. It is most heartening to give special mention to the Philip pine Trade Mission, which is being sponsored and organized by the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and which will visit Australia from the 30th of November until the 14th of December. It is to be hoped that this will be the forerun ner of many more selling mis sions from the Philippines, not only to Australia, but to other countries wi*h whom you trade. In the new year, the Trade Commission will be moving to its new location in the China Bank Building In Makati. The new offices and facilities will enable us further to cope with the increasing demands in the commercial and economic fields. The new location will also make possible the installa tion of a permanent display area for the Australian pro ducts which are currently avail able in the Philippines. I hope that this special sup plement of the Philippines He rald will help lead to a closer understanding of the efforts Australia is making towards the economic, industrial and agri cultural development of the Philippines, and Australia’s continued confidence in the fu ture of your great nation. — F. W. GLUTH, Australian Gov ernment Trade Commissioner. F. W. GLUTH Australia sums up present pro gress: “Australia is on the move; big things are happening both in raw materials and in industriali zation.” Although agriculture appears to have been relegated to third place In this push towards creating an urbanized industrial' society, this is illusory. Agriculture has been, and will continue to play a very important part in the economy. In fact, the sale of Australia’s farm products overseas financed the country’s rapid industrializa tion in the Sixties This sector still provides just under 60 per cent of the country’s foreign ex change and this reliance on the output of the Australian farmer will continue in the Seventies. Last year rural production contributed 9 percent to the G.N.P. with a gross value of around $A4,000 million, nearly half of which was exported. Even with the vagaries of world prices for primary produce, more often down than up, and varying seasonal conditions including droughts and bushfires, Austra lian farmers Increased their vo lume of rural output by 45 per cent in the Sixties. Paradoxically, workers have been gradually drift ing away from the farms to the cities until today only eight per cent of the workforce is on the land, compared with 11 Dercent at the beginning of the Sixties Increased mechanization has been the farmers’ answer to this shrinking labour force. The use of Australian cultivators, seeding and planting machinery has in creased rapidly. In 10 years the number of tractors on rural hold ings rose from 225,000 to 325,000. More than 90 percent of wheat Is now handled by bulk methods. This drift of the land is ex pected to continue In the Seven ties which will see the machine together with agricultural science Increasing output as well as open ing up new lands for pastoral and agricultural development.' But what will all this mean to the average Australian In the Se venties? According to one of Australia’s leading banks, In a projection into the future based on current trends, Australians will become even more motorized than they are now. From the one car for every three persons in the country now, the “two-car” family will be come more commonplace in the Seventies. With it will come the “two-house” family — the family residence close to work and school for the weekdays, and the cot tage by the sea, in the country or in the mountains for the week end and holidays. In the consumer field, It was refrigerators, transistor radios and television sets in the Sixties. In the Seventies there Is likely to be a wider acceptance of food freezers and air conditioners. But the main Impact (in terms of spending) will be the Introduc tion of colour television to Aus tralia In the Seventies. One Interesting aspect of the bank’s projection for the Seven ties is the changing buying ha bits of Australians. Spending on durable goods, such as cars, fur niture, electrical goods, hardware etc., is expected to rise from an average growth rate of 5.4 per cent a year during the Sixties to 9.2 percent In the Seventies. On the other hand spending on non durables. such as food and cloth ing Is expected to continue Its downward path. Although ac tual spending grew slowly in the Sixties It has not been keeping pace with the G.N.P. and only comprised 24 per cent last year. It Is expected to droD to less than 30 percent of the G.N.P. by the end of the Seventies. Overall the Australian economy in the Sixties took time to get mo ving because of the 1961 recession and then exoanslon was curtailed in the mld-slxtles by drought. However, In money terms the country’s G.N.P. rose at an ave rage yearly rate of eight percent. The Increase could be as high as 9.5 per cent this decade. Prices will probably account for up to 3.5 percent of this increase, resulting In an average annual real rate of growth of around six percent, compared with 4.9 percent In the Sixties. By international standards the -Australian economy appears to be In a state of rude health. True, there are signs of strain now emerging , but when one consi ders all factors these stresses are of a transitory nature — mere twinges In the joints of a growing youth who Is rapidly approaching adulthood. An $A11 million olefines plant operated at Botany (Sydney) by ICIANZ Ltd. In the year 1969-70 the Australian chemical industry exported products worth more than $A136 million. A 16-member Chemical Industries Trade Mission from Australia now touring South East Asia, will reach Manila on December 2. Organized by the Australian Department of Trade and Industry, with the support of the Austra lian Chemical Industry Council and the National Council of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries, the mission comprises representatives of companies making and exporting a vast range of industrial and other chemicals. Headed by Mr. W. S. Duffield, the mission follows previous ven tures In 1965 and 1967. Mr. Duf field was also the leader of the 1967 mission. Other stops on the South East Asian tour are Djakarta, Singa pore, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hongkong. The Australian chemical Indus try, which In 1969-70 registered exports worth $A136 million, plans to increase overseas outlets during the 1970s to help accommodate an expected doubling of produc tion. At present, a quarter of Austra lia’s chemicals exports goes to Asia. The Industry employs more than 55,000 people and produces such diverse products, as alkalis, acids, heavy organic chemicals, petrochemicals, explosives, phar maceuticals, cosmetics, polymers, fibres, paints, plastics, and fertil izers. It exports organic and Inorganic chemicals to 48 overseas countries Including Britain, Fiji, France, Hongkong, India, Italy, Kenya, (Continued on page 4) Thursday, November 12, 1970 AUSTRALIAN SUPPLEMENT Page 3 Australian Chemical Team Visit (Continued from page 3) New Zealand, Philippines, Africa, Spain, Sweden and the U.S.A. Export sales growth enables Australia to operate chemicals plants closer in size to overseas competitors. Domestic sales of chemical products in Australia last year ex ceeded $A687 million. More than $A70 million of the $A109 million worth of raw materials used last year by companies who are mem bers of the Australian Chemical Industry Council were of Austra lian origin. With the use of discoveries in Australia of oil and natural gas, which provide feedstock for the production of petrochemicals, the percentage of Australian raw ma terials used will increase to more than 75 per cent. The growing pattern of produc tion has resulted in an inter-rela tionship being built between ma jor Australian chemical producers such as the Altona petrochemical complex near Melbourne in Victo ria, and the Shell Chemical-ICIANZ ventures in New South Wales. Ethane from Bass Strait in sou thern-eastern Australia will be feedstock for a 100,000 tons a year extension to ethylene capacity at the Altona petrochemical complex. Mr. John Gorton, the Austra lian Prime Minister, in September WILLIAM DUFFIELD this year opened a $A33 million oil and gas fractionation plant built by The Broken Propriety Co. Ltd. and Esso Exploration and Produc tion Australia Inc. at Long Island Point, Westernport Bay, in the southern State of Victoria. The plant, about 45 miles from Melbourne, separates and stores natural gas liquids transported by a 118-mile (190-kilometer) bu ried 10-inch (25.4-centimetre) pipeline from its $A47 million treatment plant at Longford, in Gippsland. Crude oil and natural gas pro duced from the offshore fields in the Gippsland basin is transported to the Longford plant by a pipe line network of submarine and on shore pipelines. Adjacent to the new plant at Long Island Point are storage fa cilities for crude oil-transported by a 28-inch (71.1 centimetre) pipeline from Gippsland. The Long Island Point plant is designed to produce initially a to tal of 17,000 barrels a day of pro pane and butane, as well as 6,000 barrels a day of ethane, with planned expansion to 4,000 barrels a day of raw product feed. Chemical plants, producing new locally made products and saving millions in dollars in foreign ex change, enter the manufacturing fields every year. Pointing to the growing strength of the chemical industry in Australia, a large number of plant extensions and new pro jects were either started or com pleted last year. These expansions have enabled new or expanded production of cumene phenol, formaldehyde and UF syrup, water-extended polyyester, polypropylene, BR latex and epoxy, high density PE, vinyl acetate monomer, isocyanates and polyols, polystyrene, polyolefines, ethylene, vinyl chloride monomer and fibre glass. New plant under construction at the end of 1969 was valued at $A22 million — more than double that under construction a year previously. Projects underway this year Include: * A polypropylene plant at Clyde, Sydney, built by Shell Chemical (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., which is scheduled to come on stream late in 1970. * A new plant, also scheduled for completion late this year, to increase the facilities for production of vinyl acetate monomer and acetaldehyde, built by CSR Chemicals Pty. Ltd. at Rhodes, Sydney, at a cost of $A6 million. * Australian Fibre Glass Pty. Ltd. have completed a threestage expansion of facilities costing $A4 million. * A $A12 million plant will be erected for Bayer Leverkusen Ltd., at Kooranang Island, Newcastle, NSW, to manufac ture isocyanates, particularly TDI and MDI, as raw mate rials for polyurethane rigid and semi-rigid foams. * A new plant is planned and will be completed during 1971 for the manufacture of propy lene glycol by Dow Chemical Australia Ltd., as base mate rial for the production of PPG and the Voronal range of polynols for the urethane mar ket. Dow also was expanding its production facilities for styrene monomer this year. •.Primal Chemicals Pty. Ltd. has built a new plant adjacent to the existing plant at Point Henry, Geelong, Victoria, to produce base materials for the expansion of the manufactur ing range. • Monsanto Australia Ltd. com pleted this year new polysty rene facilities at West Footscray, Victoria. • The expansion of the Hoechst Chemical Australia Ltd., high density polyolefines plant at Altona, Victoria, from 12,000 to 18,000 tons was completed in the middle of last year and is now in full production. A further expansion is now in an advanced state of planning, and products from these faci lities should be on the market by the end of 1971. • To meet the continually ex panding market for PVC, a further extension of the ICIANZ Ltd. vinyl chloride mo nomer plant has been made at Botany, NSW. The Australian chemical indus try spent close to $A4.5 million on research and development in 1969, a 19 per cent increase on the pre vious ye*>r. Recviit figures released by the Australian Chemical Industry Council indicated that exports of industrial chemicals and synthetic resins last year by Council mem bers exceeded $A16 million. This represented an increase of some 27.2 per cent compared with ex ports in 1968. Domestic sales of industrial che micals and synthetic resins lncreasd by 12 per cent on the pre vious year, gaining a record $A271 million. WHOLESALERS AND AGENTS REQUIRED BY WISE & CO., INC. AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF BACOH, HAMS AHO SMALLGOODS For all inquiries, contact:QUEENSLAND BACON PTY. LTD. Murarrie Rood, MURARRIE, Brisbane, Queensland, 4172. AUSTRALIA. Cables:DANDYBACON, BRISBANE. * CELLULOSE ETHERS * DYESTUFFS * FOOD COLOURS * PIGMENTS * PROPELLENTS * SOLVENTS * FLOTATION CHEMICALS • PLASTICS • SILICONES • REFRIGERANTS •* RUBBER CHEMICALS • EXPLOSIVES • PLASTIC FOAMS • FERTILIZERS AND CHEMICALS FOR ALL OTHER INDUSTRIES A WIDE RANGE OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS ALWAYS CARRIED IN STOCK FOR PROMPT DELIVERY CALL 692-4434 (5 LINES) OR SEE US FAIRLANE CORNER BRIXTON STS., PASIG, RIZAL Page 4 AUSTRALIAN SUPPLEMENT Thursday, November 12, 1970
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