Nizhnekamsk investigated for rubber pricing monopoly

Moscow - Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has started a criminal case against Tatarstan-based petrochemical company Nizhnekamskneftekhim, according to a short report by the Russian Prime business news agency 26 June.

The case, said the report, is over “a monopolistically high price for synthetic rubber”, but did not give further details.

According to Prime, the agency has now established a commission to consider the case as an antitrust legislation breach.

As reported by ERJ, Nizhnekamskneftekhim started up a new 160 kilotonne per annum (ktpa)  isobutylene production plant, as part of its plans to increase its rubber production earlier this month.

Isobutylene is a raw material for the production of isoprene, the main component in the production of synthetic isoprene and butyl rubbers.

Nizhnekamsk has announced ambitious plans to increase its overall rubber production capacity to 1,000ktpa by 2021.

The new isobutylene facility is the second of three investment projects at the isoprene-monomer plant – under a programme to increase the production of isoprene rubber SKI-3 to 330ktpa.

Last September, the company opened a 100ktpa plant for the production of highly concentrated formaldehyde at its isoprene-monomer plant in Nizhnekamsk.