Building on their existing collaboration, which dates back to 2012, Russian petrochemical giant Sibur (Moscow / Russia; www.sibur.com) and Norway’s Independent Industrial Polymer Institute Norner (Stathelle; www.norner.no) have teamed up to develop new polyolefin grades and broaden the former’s product portfolio. As part of the project, Norner will support Sibur in streamlining interaction between its business functions, including sales and marketing, development, technical support, strategic marketing as well as Sibur’s Technologies Centre, with the aim of developing new products and establishing new segments in the polyolefin market.

Sibur managing director and head of Basic Polymers Sergey Komyshan said the collaboration aims to “unlock the sales potential of high value-added products”, adding that, “A special focus for Sibur is on expanding its range of basic polymer grades.”

Over the course of the past few months, the two companies have already laid the groundwork for the collaboration, establishing cross-functional teams, mapping market opportunities with Sibur’s capabilities, holding meetings and interviews with major brand owners and converters and working on devising a strategy. The next steps involve the creation of value-added product development projects, drawing up launch plans, training the commercial team as well as market introduction and benefit tracking.