In other news, Ciba recently inaugurated a newresearch and development centre in Shanghai,China. Representing an investment of aroundUS$20 million, the centre is located in Cao HeJing Hi-Tech Park and covers an area of approx-imately 6000 m2. The company says that theresearch facility is the first centre of its type inChina. Around 100 scientists will work at thenew R&D centre, combining expertise in organ-ic synthesis, physical chemistry, polymer chem-istry, photochemistry and analytical chemistrywith application and formulation sciences. Thecentre’s mission is to create new products andsolutions for Ciba’s customer industries in par-ticular in Asia but also globally. Industriesserved will include plastics, polymers and lubri-cants, textiles and coatings.

Ciba also introduced an updated version of itsCiba® COLIBRI™ colour-matching system[ADPO, March 2003] at the European CoatingsShow in April. The latest version combines theproven colour-matching engine with new indus-try-specific features and top-class services, Cibasays. According to the company, COLIBRI 2enables highly efficient matching of opaque,translucent and transparent colours, and is suit-able for inks, paints, plastics, fibres and ceramics.

Contact: Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Klybeck-strasse 141, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland; tel:+41-61-636-4444; fax: +41-61-636-3019;URL: www.cibasc.comGoldschmidt AG, Goldschmidtstrasse 100, 45127Essen, Germany; tel: +49-201-17-301; fax: +49-201-17-33-000; URL: www.goldschmidt.com

Lanxess invests to boost phosphorus flame retardantproductionLanxess Deutschland GmbH has investedaround �2 million in its Leverkusen unit for themanufacture of phosphorus oxychloride(POCl3). A combination of plant modernizationand an improvement in the production processhas made it possible to expand capacity, thecompany says. The increase in volumes helpsLanxess to strengthen its phosphorus networkand also consolidates its position on the market.

Phosphorus oxychloride is required for a widevariety of applications in industrial chemistry,

including the production of organic phosphatesfor use as flame retardants in plastics. Flameretardant applications include casings for mobilephones, televisions and computers. According toLanxess, demand for POCl3 has increased owingto the growth in these sectors, making it neces-sary to debottleneck the existing unit inLeverkusen for oxidizing phosphorus trichloride.

Contact: LANXESS, Bld K10, D-51368Leverkusen, Germany; tel: +49-214-30-1;URL: www.lanxess.com

Roundup of latest pricechanges for polymer additivesCytec Industries Inc and Great Lakes ChemicalCorp have recently announced price changesaffecting polymer stabilizers and other additives.

Cytec will introduce price increases of up to10% on polymer additives, effective from 1 July2005. Product lines affected are CYASTAT®

antistatic agents, CYANOX® antioxidants,CYASORB® light stabilizers, CYASORBTHT® and blends containing these products.The increases are due to the sustained pressureon raw materials, energy, transportation andpackaging costs, the company says.

Great Lakes has increased prices worldwide forits polymer stabilizer additives, effective forshipments after 1 June 2005, or where contractsallow. Prices for its main antioxidants, includingAnox® 20, Anox PP-18, Alkanox® 240 andAlkanox TNPP, were increased by 10%, whilethose for hindered amine light stabilizers,including Lowilite® 62, Lowilite 77, Lowilite94 and Lowilite 92 rose by 5%. BenzophenoneUV absorbers including Lowilite 20, Lowilite20S, Lowilite 22 and Lowilite 24 are subject toa 10% price increase. Prices for blends andNDB® no dust blends have been increased by anamount consistent with the increase in compo-nent pricing. Again, the continued escalation inthe costs of petrochemical-based raw materials,energy and logistics are cited as the reasonsbehind the new pricing.

Contact: Cytec Industries Inc, 5 GarretMountain Plaza, West Paterson, NJ 07424,USA; tel: +1-973-357-3100; fax: +1-973-357-3060; URL: www.cytec.com

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Great Lakes Chemical Corp, 9025 North RiverRd, Suite 400, Indianapolis, IN 46240, USA; tel:+1-317-715-3000; fax: +1-317-715-3050;URL: www.pa.greatlakes.com

Clariant Masterbatches opensblack line in Taiwan, closesWatford siteA new plant, designed and built especially toproduce black masterbatches for producers ofnylon and polyester fibres, has opened at theClariant Masterbatches facility in Taoyuan,Taiwan. The new extrusion line is thought to bethe only one of its kind in the region. Designedto yield the high-quality masterbatches requiredfor fibre-spinning operations, the line also willdramatically reduce delivery times to Asianfibre producers, Clariant says.

The production of highly loaded black master-batches in engineering resins for fibre applica-tions represents a major technical challenge.Fibre manufacturers produce filaments withdtex numbers of around 1 to 4, with spinningspeeds in excess of 3000 m/min. A dtex numberof 1 means that 10 000 m of such a filamentweighs merely 1 gram. Any contamination orundispersed particle in the masterbatch willresult in serious problems in the spinningprocess, explains Thilo Kind, Clariant Head ofTechnology – Asia/Pacific Region, who wasresponsible for installation and start-up of thenew line. Clariant Taiwan specializes in master-batches for nylon and polyester fibre applica-tions, producing colour masterbatches and arange of products for white semi-dull and full-dull fibres. The facility also makes masterbatch-es for injection-moulded engineering resinswidely used in the local electronics industry andother applications. To maintain consistent oper-ation, ensure high-quality dispersion and pre-vent contamination, the black line has beeninstalled in a new building, separate from otherClariant operations at the site. It is fully auto-mated, with state-of-the-art computer controlsthat allow a single operator to run it.

Clariant has two existing black lines, inLahnstein, Germany, and Milford, DE, USA,but says the new line was necessary to tap thefull market potential in Asia. Clariant Taiwan

will now be able to offer a greater variety ofproduct, tailor-made to the customer’s applica-tion, with better product quality and dramatical-ly reduced lead times, it says.

Elsewhere, the division is to close its Watfordsite in the UK in July and transfer its remainingcustomer service and warehousing activities tothe company’s Wigan site. This will allow theUK operation to be more customer-focused andwill increase its competitiveness in the market,it says. The move completes the withdrawalfrom the Watford site, which began in June 2004when the company announced the transfer ofproduction to Wigan.

In related news, the Wigan plant is now able tooffer Clariant’s full range of HYDROCEROL®

chemical foaming and nucleating agent (CFA)masterbatches directly to UK customers. Pre-viously these products were only available inthe UK through independent distributor AlfaChemicals.

Contact: Clariant Masterbatches Division,Rothausstrasse 61, CH-4132 Muttenz 1, Swit-zerland; tel: +41-61-469-6170; fax: +41-61-469-6597; URL: www.clariant.masterbatches.com

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FINANCIALS

Crompton’s polymer additivesprovide substantial improve-ment ahead of planned mergerCrompton Corp posted net earnings for the firstquarter of 2005 of US$18.2 million from con-tinuing operations. This includes pre-taxcharges of $3.2 million for antitrust costs and$0.2 million for facility closures, severance andrelated costs. For 1Q 2004, comparable netearnings were $60.79 million. First quarter netsales of $589.7 million were 6% above 1Q 2004net sales of $555.5 million. The increase was theresult of a 13% increase in selling prices and a2% increase due to favourable foreign currency,partially offset by a 9% decrease in volume.

The Polymer Additives segment achieved 1Q2005 sales of $381.37 million, up 5% from$363.35 million for 1Q 2004. Operating profitshowed a far more dramatic improvement,