Rockwood was created in October2000 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &Co (the New York-based privateequity firm) as a vehicle for the $1.175bn acquisition of various chemicalbusinesses of Laporte plc (of the UK).Those businesses included iron oxidepigments. Subsequently, Rockwoodbuilt up the broadest pigmentsportfolio in the industry with furtheracquisitions from Elementis, YuleCatto, Johnson Matthey, MGTechnologies (formerly Metallgesell-schaft), Kemira and Tronox.

In a teleconferenced seminar on 30July 2014, Mr Peter Huntsman(President & CEO of Huntsman Corp)was asked about the possibility thatconditions might be attached to theEuropean Commission’s approval. Hewas adamant that the acquisitionwould go ahead. He said: “We cannotgive details at this point. But we areconfident that the remedies we areproposing address the EuropeanCommission’s major concerns. Thoseremedies are immaterial to the overallbusiness. And, consistent with whatwe have said in the past, theremedies will not involve divestmentof a facility. That is an importantpoint.”

The outcomes of some past anti-trust investigations, like the outcomesof some past political elections, cancome as a surprise. The ChicagoTribune newspaper ran the headline“Dewey defeats Truman” on themorning of 3 November 1948 – themost famous example of prematureand inaccurate “breaking news.” Inpast issues of ‘Focus on Pigments’,we have been careful to hedge ourbets by placing a question-mark at theend of headlines such as: “ICI sellsmost of Tioxide to DuPont?” (July1997) and “Colourful Swiss giantconceived: Ciba to merge withClariant?” (November 1998). Thequestion-mark was vital because ofcourse things turned out differently!

Another decision with wide-rangingconsequences will be made on 18September 2014 for that is the dateon which about 4 M Scottish residentswill vote in a referendum on whetherScotland should become a fullyindependent country or remain part ofthe United Kingdom. All the opinionpolls conducted so far indicate thatthe majority verdict will be “No toindependence.” Meanwhile, theconsensus view of most investment

analysts and industry observersregarding the Huntsman/Rockwooddeal is “Yes, the acquisition will goahead.” But you never know. Oneshould not presume to know theoutcome of an event that is still inprogress. As US baseball (or opera?)fans say: “It isn’t over until the fat ladysings!”

Reg Adams

MARKETSLanxess raises iron oxide pigmentprices worldwide

Lanxess, the world’s leading supplierof iron oxide pigments and a majorsupplier of chromium oxide pigments,announced in early May that it hadraised the prices of all its inorganicpigments worldwide by a minimum of€125 or $175 per tonne. The pricehike took immediate effect.

Customers in the various regionsof the world were contactedindividually regarding the specifics ofthe price increases applied toindividual pigment products within theBayferrox, Bayoxide and Colorthermranges.

Original Source: Lanxess AG, Kennedyplatz 1, 50569Köln, Germany, website: http://www.lanxess.com (5May 2014) © Lanxess 2014

MRC sees global carbon black demandapproaching 13 M tonnes by 2015

Merchant Research & Consulting(MRC, headquartered in Birmingham)publishes market studies on about150 different chemicals, metals andminerals. We reviewed the company’sstudy on the global market for barytein ‘Focus on Pigments’, Sep 2011, 3.Earlier this year, MRC released a 295-page report on the world carbon blackindustry, containing year-by-year datafor 2008 to 2013 and forecasts to2018.

After many years of fairly constantgrowth, world carbon black demandfell in 2008/09 as a consequence ofthe global economic recession.Demand has picked up again inrecent years, leading to renewedinvestment in adding capacity,especially in the Asia/Pacific region.World capacity was assessed at 14.5M tonnes/y for 2012, with Asia/Pacific

accounting for 9 M tonnes/y. Chinanow accounts for nearly 6 M tonnes/yof global carbon black capacity,representing more than 40% of theglobal total. The US, India, Russiaand Japan together account for justover 4 M tonnes/y.

World production amounted to 11M tonnes in 2012, with Asia/Pacificcontributing more than 6.8 M tonnes,including 3.7 M tonnes from China,1.1 M tonnes from India and over300,000 tonnes from Japan. The USproduced nearly 2.5 M tonnes, whileRussia produced about 500,000tonnes.

Consumption in Asia/Pacific wasnearly 6.5 M tonnes, so the regionwas a significant net exporter ofcarbon black. In all regions, therubber industry is by far the largestend-user sector, accounting for 89.5%of global demand in 2013. Total worlddemand is expected to exceed 12.9 Mtonnes in 2015, indicating averagegrowth at around 5.5% per annumover four years.

The world’s leading carbon blacksuppliers are: Aditya Birla, Cabot,Orion, Jiangxi Black Cat and ChinaSynthetic Rubber (CSR). Other majorsuppliers profiled in this study include:Bridgestone and Tokai (of Japan andThailand); OCI (formerly OrientalChemical Industries and DCChemical, of South Korea); Phillips (ofIndia); Nhumo (of Mexico); Omsk TG,Nizhnekamsk TG and Yaroslavl TG(of Russia); Dashiqiao City Liaobin,Jiangxi Lanjing, Qingdao Evonik,Qingzhou Boao, Shandong Huadong,Shanghai Baosteel Chemical,Shanghai Cabot and Shanxi Lixin (ofChina); and Sid Richardson (of theUS).

MRC’s report consists of sevenchapters. Following initial chaptersdescribing the properties, uses andprocesses for manufacturing carbonblack, Chapter 3 provides data on theworld and major regions for capacity,production, consumption, trade andprices. In Chapter 4, more detailedbreakdowns are shown for: Europe(Croatia, Czech Republic, France,Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands,Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain andSweden); Asia/Pacific (China, India,Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea,Taiwan and Thailand); North America(Canada and the US); Latin America(Argentina, Brazil, Mexico andVenezuela); and the Middle East

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(Egypt, Iran and Turkey). Chapter 5 isdevoted to forecasts for consumption,capacity and prices. Chapter 6assesses the competitive strengthsand strategies of the top five globalsuppliers. Chapter 7 discusses themajor end-use sectors, identifyingconsumption trends and majorconsumers.

Carbon Black: 2014 World MarketOutlook & Forecast up to 2018, 295pp, 162 tables, 65 charts & graphs.Price: $4500 for single-user licence,electronic copy (in *.PDF format) or$4690 for printed copy.

Original Source: Merchant Research & Consulting Ltd,Central House, 582-586 Kingsbury Road, BirminghamB24 9ND, UK, tel: +44 (0)20 7558 8740, website:http://mcgroup.co.uk, © Merchant Research &Consulting 2014

R&M’s carbon black reports featureChina and the global market forspeciality grades

Research & Markets Ltd (head-quartered in Dublin, with a sales officein New York), one of the world’s largestwholesalers of published marketresearch reports, with a cataloguelisting more than 1.5 M reports,recently added two new reports oncarbon black to its catalogue – onecovering the Chinese industry, theother covering the global market forspeciality (non-rubber) applications.

The 186-page report on China wascompiled in June 2014 by Asia MarketInformation & Development Co(AMID, headquartered at Woodinville,WA in the United States). The reportcontains data for 2003, 2008 and2013, with forecasts to 2018 and2023. AMID is forecasting averagegrowth in Chinese carbon blackdemand at 5.7% per annum betweennow and 2023.

The report consists of sevenchapters. Chapter 1 sets out thescope and methodology, as well asproviding an executive summary ofthe main findings. Chapter 2describes the business environmentin China, including economic anddemographic factors, with informationon tax and financial regulations,import tariffs, etc. Chapter 3 providesan overview on the structure of theChinese carbon black industry,identifying the major suppliers, majorconsumers, potential new entrantsand foreign investors. Prices andtechnology developments are also

discussed in this chapter. Chapter 4shows data on China’s carbon blackcapacity, output, demand, trade andprices. Chapter 5 shows data onconsumption, highlightingdevelopments in the usage of carbonblack for rubber, printing inks, plastics,etc. Chapter 6 describes market entrychannels, including franchising and E-commerce. Chapter 7 shows profilesof the major Chinese carbon blackproducers and end-users, includingthe country’s top 30 rubber producersand the top 13 carbon blackcustomers in the plastics industry.

The 158-page report on specialitycarbon blacks was compiled inOctober 2013 by TechSci Research(of Burnaby, BC, Canada; Peter-borough, UK; and Noida, UttarPradesh, India). Historically, therehave been relatively few suppliers ofspeciality grades suitable forapplications in the printing ink, paint,plastics, electronic and other sectors.The technical criteria in terms of purity(especially regarding sulfur, ash andmetal content) tend to be much morestringent than for commodity gradesused in the rubber industry. But thehigh profit margins attainable and thefairly strong market growth forspeciality grades of carbon black haveattracted a number of new entrants inrecent years. TechSci identifies 10major global suppliers of specialitygrades in its discussion of thecompetitive landscape, namely: AsiaCarbon Industries, Birla, Cabot,Cancarb, China Synthetic Rubber,Continental Carbon, Orion, Phillips,Sid Richardson, and ZaozhuangXinyuan. World consumption ofspeciality grades – currently in excessof 1 M tonnes/y – is expected toincrease at an average rate of 5% perannum between now and 2018.

The TechSci report consists of 17chapters. The first three chaptersdefine the scope of the study, provideoverviews of the carbon black industryin general and the speciality segmentin particular. Chapters 4, 7, 8 and 9provide data and forecasts on the sizeand structure of the market (in volumeand value, by end-use, country andsupplier) for the world, the Americas,Europe and Asia/Pacific respectively.Chapter 5 deals with speciality carbonblack raw material specifications.Chapter 6 discusses plant capacitiesfor making speciality grades.Chapters 10, 11 and 12 deal with

sales channels, pricing and marketdynamics. Recent trends anddevelopments are highlighted inChapter 13. The regulatory landscapeis dealt with in Chapter 14. Chapter15 discusses the competitivelandscape. Chapter 16 provides a setof strategic recommendations.Chapter 17 is essentially an appendixon the research methodology adoptedfor compiling this report.

Carbon Black Markets in China(reference 223250), 186 pp, 24tables, 32 charts & graphs. Price:£2458 for single-user licence,electronic copy (in *.PDF format) or£2581 for CD-ROM or printed copy.

Global Speciality Carbon BlackMarket Forecast & Opportunities,2018 (reference 2650119), 158 pp, 38tables, 30 charts & graphs. Price:£1844 for single-user licence,electronic copy (in *.PDF format) or£2458 for CD-ROM copy or £2766 forprinted copy.

Original Source: Research & Markets Ltd, GuinnessCentre, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland. Tel: +353 1416 8900 & New York, USA, tel: +1 (800) 526 8630 or+1 (917) 300 0470, website:http://www.researchandmarkets.com © Research &Markets 2014

US will become a substantial netimporter of carbon black

Speaking at the Clemson UniversityTire Industry Conference (Hilton HeadIsland, NC, April 2014), Mr GregoryKing (Vice President, Marketing at SidRichardson Carbon Co) warned thatthe US is going to become asubstantial net importer of carbonblack over the next few years. Currentnameplate capacity for carbon blackin Mexico and the US is 2.1 Mtonnes/y, but several producers willretire capacity in order to meet toughnew standards on sulfur and nitrogenoxide emissions laid down by the USEnvironmental Protection Agency(EPA). This will probably reducecapacity to 1.86 M tonnes/y by 2020.Demand will reach 2.07 M tonnes/y bythat time, resulting in a shortfall ofmore than 200,000 tonnes/y. Mr Kingbelieves that Chinese suppliers – aswell as Indian and Russian suppliers– will be eager to plug this gap byraising their exports to the US.

Original Source: Rubber and Plastics News, 5 May2014, 43 (20), 12 (Website:http://www.rubbernews.com) © CrainCommunications Inc 2014

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