- Email: [email protected]
PolyOne to produce colour masterbatch in Poland
August 2006
between the Pigments & Additives Division and privately owned Hangzhou Baihe Chemical, a leading Chinese manufacturer of organic pigments with an annual turnover exceeding US$60 million. Contact: Clariant Pigments & Additives Division, Am Unisys-Park 1, 65840 Sulzbach am Taunus, Germany; tel: +49-6196-757-8132; fax: +49-6196-757-8862; URL: www.pa.clariant.com
Prices increase across a wide range of additive products Increased prices have been announced by a significant number of additive and pigment manufacturers recently. DuPont Titanium Technologies (www.titanium.dupont.com) has brought in price increases for its titanium dioxide (TiO2) grades in a number of regions. Effective from 15 June, prices increased by US$0.04 per pound in the USA and Canada, and by $150 per tonne in the Middle East, and from 1 July by 130/tonne in Europe. Elsewhere the price for all rutile and anatase Tiona® TiO2 products sold by Lyondell subsidiary Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (www.millenniumchem.com) in North America increased by $0.04/lb from 1 July. Competitor Kronos Worldwide (www.kronostio2.com) similarly introduced an increase of $0.04/lb for all Kronos TiO2 products in North America from 1 July and, from the same date, of 130/tonne in Europe. Finally, Tronox Inc (www.tronox.com) also raised North American prices for its TiO2 pigments by $0.04/lb from 1 July. Selected brominated flame retardants from Chemtura Corp (www.chemtura.com) are also subject to price increases from 1 July. The price of BA-59P (tetrabromobisphenol-A) has risen by $0.30/kg and those of its brominated carbonate oligomer and FF680 (bromo-phenoxy ethane) products by up to 15%. From the same date, Degussa (www.degussa.de) raised the global prices of its Ionol® range of phenolic antioxidants for plastics, rubber and many other applications by up to 25%, depending on the product group. Lanxess (www.lanxess.com) also announced a worldwide price increase of 5–15% for antioxidants Vulkanox® BHT and
Additives for Polymers
Vulkanox BKF and other toluene-based basic chemicals such as chlorotoluenes (used in pigment manufacture) and cresols (flame retardants). Velsicol Chemical Corp (www.velsicol.com) has implemented a global price rise of $0.05/lb ($110/tonne) for its Benzoflex and Velate benzoate ester plasticizers from the beginning of July. Also affecting plasticizers, Eastman Chemical (www.eastman.com) has increased the off-list price for 2-ethylhexanoic acid by $0.041/lb (0.07/kg) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while BASF (www.basf.com) raised prices for the same product by 50/tonne or $70/tonne. 2-ethylhexanoic acid is used in the manufacture of plasticizers, PVC stabilizers and many different industrial applications. Finally, Rhodia Silcea (www.rhodiasilicas.com) announced a 10% global price increase for its high-performance precipitated silica range from 1 July. All quoted price increases are subject to existing contracts.
PolyOne to produce colour masterbatch in Poland PolyOne Corp has announced plans to expand in Central Europe with the construction of a manufacturing facility in Kutno, Poland, its second plant in the region. Products manufactured at the site will initially include colour masterbatches for extrusion and moulding processors. Construction is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2007, with production and sales beginning immediately after. “The Kutno facility will allow us to serve the needs of the rapidly growing market in Poland, as well as to provide strong partnering support for our existing European customers who are establishing their own manufacturing sites in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Bernard Baert, VP and general manager, International Colors and Engineered Materials. Kutno is centrally located in Poland, close to the main Berlin-to-Moscow route and with easy access to all major industrial regions. Contact: PolyOne Corp, 33587 Walker Rd, PolyOne Center, Avon Lake, OH 44012, USA;
7
Additives for Polymers
tel: +1-440-930-1000; fax: +1-440-930-3064; URL: www.polyone.com
NEWS AND VIEWS ColorMatrix acquired by private equity firm, plans expansion ColorMatrix Corp, the Cleveland-based manufacturer of liquid colorants and additive concentrates for thermoplastic products, has been acquired by US private equity firm Audax Group for an undisclosed sum. The existing management, led by co-CEOs and co-founders John Haugh and Michael Shaughnessy, have been retained and will remain significant investors in the company. ColorMatrix is a global player serving customers in blow moulding, extrusion and performance moulding with a particularly strong position in PET colouring. As a result of the ownership change, ColorMatrix is also being reorganized, with its four global business units being joined into a single operating group. The company says this will enable it to serve a growing and increasingly multinational customer base more efficiently. Audax co-chief executive Geoffrey Rehnert says the new owner plans to accelerate ColorMatrix’s growth by global expansion and completing selective add-on acquisitions. Contact: ColorMatrix, 680 North Rocky River Drive, Berea, Ohio, USA; tel: +1-216-6220100; URL: corporation.colormatrix.com
Bridgestone to build Mexican carbon black plant Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp is planning to build a plant in Mexico to ensure reliable supplies of high-quality carbon black, which is in increasingly high demand due to expansion of the company’s tyre plants worldwide. Approximately US$81 million (about ¥8.9 billion) has been earmarked for investment in the new plant, which is scheduled to begin production in June 2008. Annual capacity is expected to be around 35 000 tons.
8
August 2006
The new plant will be operated by Mexico Carbon Manufacturing SA DE CV, a whollyowned member of the Bridgestone Group established in September 2005. The plant will be located in Altamira and will employ about 110 staff. This will be Bridgestone’s third carbon black plant, joining facilities in Japan and Thailand. Expanding in-house production capacity in raw materials for tyres and diversified products is a strategic priority for the group. Contact: Bridgestone Corp, 10-1, Kyobashi 1chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8340, Japan; tel: +81-3-3567-0111; fax: +81-3-3535-2553; URL: www.bridgestone.co.jp
Latest polymer additives appointments at Chemtura, Elementis and others Chemtura Corp (www.chemtura.com) has recently made a number of executive appointments in its plastics additives business. Diana Peninger has been appointed to the position of global business director, PVC Additives, with accountability for profit and loss and coordination of functional support to drive improvement in operating income. Meanwhile, Marc van Gerwen becomes the company’s global business director, Antioxidants & UV Stabilizers, stationed in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Chemtura’s European commercial centre. The business unit has plants in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East and produces well-known brands such as Anox, Lowilite and Ultranox. Van Gerwen served as business director, Plastics Additives with Crompton Corp. Chris Bond becomes commercial director for Plastics Additives in the Americas, and Sergio Palumbo takes on the same role in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. Palumbo, who will be based in Frauenfeld, was previously commercial manager, EMEA, for Plastics Additives and will be succeeded in that role by Brian Johnson, who will be based in Belgium. Elementis (www.elementis.com) has appointed David W. Dutro as president and chief operating officer. Dutro will also retain his duties as managing director of the pigments division.
between the Pigments & Additives Division and privately owned Hangzhou Baihe Chemical, a leading Chinese manufacturer of organic pigments with an annual turnover exceeding US$60 million. Contact: Clariant Pigments & Additives Division, Am Unisys-Park 1, 65840 Sulzbach am Taunus, Germany; tel: +49-6196-757-8132; fax: +49-6196-757-8862; URL: www.pa.clariant.com
Prices increase across a wide range of additive products Increased prices have been announced by a significant number of additive and pigment manufacturers recently. DuPont Titanium Technologies (www.titanium.dupont.com) has brought in price increases for its titanium dioxide (TiO2) grades in a number of regions. Effective from 15 June, prices increased by US$0.04 per pound in the USA and Canada, and by $150 per tonne in the Middle East, and from 1 July by 130/tonne in Europe. Elsewhere the price for all rutile and anatase Tiona® TiO2 products sold by Lyondell subsidiary Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (www.millenniumchem.com) in North America increased by $0.04/lb from 1 July. Competitor Kronos Worldwide (www.kronostio2.com) similarly introduced an increase of $0.04/lb for all Kronos TiO2 products in North America from 1 July and, from the same date, of 130/tonne in Europe. Finally, Tronox Inc (www.tronox.com) also raised North American prices for its TiO2 pigments by $0.04/lb from 1 July. Selected brominated flame retardants from Chemtura Corp (www.chemtura.com) are also subject to price increases from 1 July. The price of BA-59P (tetrabromobisphenol-A) has risen by $0.30/kg and those of its brominated carbonate oligomer and FF680 (bromo-phenoxy ethane) products by up to 15%. From the same date, Degussa (www.degussa.de) raised the global prices of its Ionol® range of phenolic antioxidants for plastics, rubber and many other applications by up to 25%, depending on the product group. Lanxess (www.lanxess.com) also announced a worldwide price increase of 5–15% for antioxidants Vulkanox® BHT and
Additives for Polymers
Vulkanox BKF and other toluene-based basic chemicals such as chlorotoluenes (used in pigment manufacture) and cresols (flame retardants). Velsicol Chemical Corp (www.velsicol.com) has implemented a global price rise of $0.05/lb ($110/tonne) for its Benzoflex and Velate benzoate ester plasticizers from the beginning of July. Also affecting plasticizers, Eastman Chemical (www.eastman.com) has increased the off-list price for 2-ethylhexanoic acid by $0.041/lb (0.07/kg) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while BASF (www.basf.com) raised prices for the same product by 50/tonne or $70/tonne. 2-ethylhexanoic acid is used in the manufacture of plasticizers, PVC stabilizers and many different industrial applications. Finally, Rhodia Silcea (www.rhodiasilicas.com) announced a 10% global price increase for its high-performance precipitated silica range from 1 July. All quoted price increases are subject to existing contracts.
PolyOne to produce colour masterbatch in Poland PolyOne Corp has announced plans to expand in Central Europe with the construction of a manufacturing facility in Kutno, Poland, its second plant in the region. Products manufactured at the site will initially include colour masterbatches for extrusion and moulding processors. Construction is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2007, with production and sales beginning immediately after. “The Kutno facility will allow us to serve the needs of the rapidly growing market in Poland, as well as to provide strong partnering support for our existing European customers who are establishing their own manufacturing sites in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Bernard Baert, VP and general manager, International Colors and Engineered Materials. Kutno is centrally located in Poland, close to the main Berlin-to-Moscow route and with easy access to all major industrial regions. Contact: PolyOne Corp, 33587 Walker Rd, PolyOne Center, Avon Lake, OH 44012, USA;
7
Additives for Polymers
tel: +1-440-930-1000; fax: +1-440-930-3064; URL: www.polyone.com
NEWS AND VIEWS ColorMatrix acquired by private equity firm, plans expansion ColorMatrix Corp, the Cleveland-based manufacturer of liquid colorants and additive concentrates for thermoplastic products, has been acquired by US private equity firm Audax Group for an undisclosed sum. The existing management, led by co-CEOs and co-founders John Haugh and Michael Shaughnessy, have been retained and will remain significant investors in the company. ColorMatrix is a global player serving customers in blow moulding, extrusion and performance moulding with a particularly strong position in PET colouring. As a result of the ownership change, ColorMatrix is also being reorganized, with its four global business units being joined into a single operating group. The company says this will enable it to serve a growing and increasingly multinational customer base more efficiently. Audax co-chief executive Geoffrey Rehnert says the new owner plans to accelerate ColorMatrix’s growth by global expansion and completing selective add-on acquisitions. Contact: ColorMatrix, 680 North Rocky River Drive, Berea, Ohio, USA; tel: +1-216-6220100; URL: corporation.colormatrix.com
Bridgestone to build Mexican carbon black plant Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp is planning to build a plant in Mexico to ensure reliable supplies of high-quality carbon black, which is in increasingly high demand due to expansion of the company’s tyre plants worldwide. Approximately US$81 million (about ¥8.9 billion) has been earmarked for investment in the new plant, which is scheduled to begin production in June 2008. Annual capacity is expected to be around 35 000 tons.
8
August 2006
The new plant will be operated by Mexico Carbon Manufacturing SA DE CV, a whollyowned member of the Bridgestone Group established in September 2005. The plant will be located in Altamira and will employ about 110 staff. This will be Bridgestone’s third carbon black plant, joining facilities in Japan and Thailand. Expanding in-house production capacity in raw materials for tyres and diversified products is a strategic priority for the group. Contact: Bridgestone Corp, 10-1, Kyobashi 1chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8340, Japan; tel: +81-3-3567-0111; fax: +81-3-3535-2553; URL: www.bridgestone.co.jp
Latest polymer additives appointments at Chemtura, Elementis and others Chemtura Corp (www.chemtura.com) has recently made a number of executive appointments in its plastics additives business. Diana Peninger has been appointed to the position of global business director, PVC Additives, with accountability for profit and loss and coordination of functional support to drive improvement in operating income. Meanwhile, Marc van Gerwen becomes the company’s global business director, Antioxidants & UV Stabilizers, stationed in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Chemtura’s European commercial centre. The business unit has plants in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East and produces well-known brands such as Anox, Lowilite and Ultranox. Van Gerwen served as business director, Plastics Additives with Crompton Corp. Chris Bond becomes commercial director for Plastics Additives in the Americas, and Sergio Palumbo takes on the same role in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. Palumbo, who will be based in Frauenfeld, was previously commercial manager, EMEA, for Plastics Additives and will be succeeded in that role by Brian Johnson, who will be based in Belgium. Elementis (www.elementis.com) has appointed David W. Dutro as president and chief operating officer. Dutro will also retain his duties as managing director of the pigments division.