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Bayer to cut further jobs
Additives for Polymers
dynamics in the global market for phenol. Both companies have agreed to pursue separate strategies for their business interests in the phenol area. Contact: Solutia Inc, PO Box 66760, St Louis, MO 63166-6760, USA; tel: +I-314 674 1000; fax: +I-314 674 2490
Bayer to cut further jobs Following a second profit warning, Germany’s Bayer AG has confirmed that it will cut a further 2700 jobs by 2005, reveals a report in the press. News of the layoffs came shortly after Bayer reported that it would cut 1800 positions and shut 15 plants at its polymers division. The latest round of cutbacks announced Friday will be in its drugs unit, where mounting problems are expected to affect earnings this year and beyond. Contact: Bayer AG, Werk Leverkusen, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany; tel: +49-21 335123788; fax: +49-21 3351 23323
MARKETING Excellent growth forecast for the polypropylene industry US-based Phillip Townsend Associates has released its ‘7th Annual Report on the Polypropylene (PP) Industry’. For the year 2000, the company says that global PP consumption grew by 6% compared with the previous year. With further consolidation of the PP industry, globalisation is again a hot topic, says the company. According to Phillip Townsend, it is not surprising that Base11 is the leading company in the field, but what is interesting is the changes that have occurred in the next tier of PP producers. There are only three truly global PP, claims the company. These are Basell, ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical. BP Chemicals, Atolina, Sumitomo and Formosa Plastics are on the verge of globalisation. Other like Borealis, DSM, major producers, Reliance, PetroChina, SINOPEC and Sunoco
6
August 2001
(Aristech) are only producers says Phillip Townsend.
in one region,
According to the report, which includes profiles for over 50 major PP producers, the major opportunities for these producers are in injection moulding and fibres, and understanding the relative importance of each regionally will be critical to success. For example, North American converters have not seized the opportunity for blowmoulded PP bottles like other regions - they still prefer alternative materials like high-density polyethylene or polyethylene terephthalate, says the company. An end-use industry that is already globalised will temporarily apply pressure on its resin converters to use the same grade in all regions, say Phillip Townsend, and global producers like Base11 are well placed to develop business with these companies. Townsend still predicts excellent growth (over 7% globally) over the next five years. Phillip Townsend Associates is a global consulting company based in Houston, Texas, USA. Every year it publishes numerous multi-client studies on the thermoplastic resin industry. Contact: Phillip Townsend Associates, 523 Sam Houston Parkway East, Suite 500, Houston, Texas 77060, USA; tel: +I-281 873 8733; fax: 11-28187.5 1915
FEATURE Antimicrobial food packaging materials Associate Professor, By Kay Cooksey, Department of Packaging Science, Clemson University South Carolina, USA This article looks at the underlying chemistry of various types of additives, and antimicrobial films, which potentially could be used by the food-packaging industry, and the associated research work which seeks to make this technology commercially usable. Research into the area of antimicrobial food packaging materials has increased significantly during the past five years. Approximately half of the 40 Food Packaging Division’s technical
0200 1 Elsevier Science
dynamics in the global market for phenol. Both companies have agreed to pursue separate strategies for their business interests in the phenol area. Contact: Solutia Inc, PO Box 66760, St Louis, MO 63166-6760, USA; tel: +I-314 674 1000; fax: +I-314 674 2490
Bayer to cut further jobs Following a second profit warning, Germany’s Bayer AG has confirmed that it will cut a further 2700 jobs by 2005, reveals a report in the press. News of the layoffs came shortly after Bayer reported that it would cut 1800 positions and shut 15 plants at its polymers division. The latest round of cutbacks announced Friday will be in its drugs unit, where mounting problems are expected to affect earnings this year and beyond. Contact: Bayer AG, Werk Leverkusen, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany; tel: +49-21 335123788; fax: +49-21 3351 23323
MARKETING Excellent growth forecast for the polypropylene industry US-based Phillip Townsend Associates has released its ‘7th Annual Report on the Polypropylene (PP) Industry’. For the year 2000, the company says that global PP consumption grew by 6% compared with the previous year. With further consolidation of the PP industry, globalisation is again a hot topic, says the company. According to Phillip Townsend, it is not surprising that Base11 is the leading company in the field, but what is interesting is the changes that have occurred in the next tier of PP producers. There are only three truly global PP, claims the company. These are Basell, ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical. BP Chemicals, Atolina, Sumitomo and Formosa Plastics are on the verge of globalisation. Other like Borealis, DSM, major producers, Reliance, PetroChina, SINOPEC and Sunoco
6
August 2001
(Aristech) are only producers says Phillip Townsend.
in one region,
According to the report, which includes profiles for over 50 major PP producers, the major opportunities for these producers are in injection moulding and fibres, and understanding the relative importance of each regionally will be critical to success. For example, North American converters have not seized the opportunity for blowmoulded PP bottles like other regions - they still prefer alternative materials like high-density polyethylene or polyethylene terephthalate, says the company. An end-use industry that is already globalised will temporarily apply pressure on its resin converters to use the same grade in all regions, say Phillip Townsend, and global producers like Base11 are well placed to develop business with these companies. Townsend still predicts excellent growth (over 7% globally) over the next five years. Phillip Townsend Associates is a global consulting company based in Houston, Texas, USA. Every year it publishes numerous multi-client studies on the thermoplastic resin industry. Contact: Phillip Townsend Associates, 523 Sam Houston Parkway East, Suite 500, Houston, Texas 77060, USA; tel: +I-281 873 8733; fax: 11-28187.5 1915
FEATURE Antimicrobial food packaging materials Associate Professor, By Kay Cooksey, Department of Packaging Science, Clemson University South Carolina, USA This article looks at the underlying chemistry of various types of additives, and antimicrobial films, which potentially could be used by the food-packaging industry, and the associated research work which seeks to make this technology commercially usable. Research into the area of antimicrobial food packaging materials has increased significantly during the past five years. Approximately half of the 40 Food Packaging Division’s technical
0200 1 Elsevier Science