8Additives for Polymers October 2009

STRATEGIES

materials for product application in a wide range of indus-tries, such as household appliances, aerospace, construction, textile, packaging, recycling and automotive products. The business currently has three product lines: in addition to poly-mer additives it also produces plastic compounds based on nanomaterials and nanomaterials with special properties, such as controlled release.

Contact: Grupo KUO, Paseo de los Tamarindos 400-B, Bosques de las

Lomas, Mexico, DF, 05120, Mexico. Tel: +52 55 52618000,

Web: www.kuo.com.mx

Union Colours on pigments acquisition trail

UK-based organic pigments producer Union Colours is on the acquisition trail after buy-

ing the Stockport technical centre of its former rival European Colour Pigments, which went into administration in April this year. The pur-chase, for an undisclosed sum, provides Union Colours with a new headquarters and expands the company’s global infrastructure.

Union Colours, which was itself set up by former man-agers and directors from European Colour in 2004, has re-employed many of the Stockport plant’s former work-ers. Following the purchase it is also relocating its head-quarters to Stockport from its former base in Stalybridge. Union Colours develops client-specific pigments for inks, plastics and coatings, which are manufactured at produc-tion facilities in China and South Africa. The products are then sold into Europe and elsewhere via the compa-ny’s technical sales network. European Colour Pigments is a manufacturer of azo and basic dye complex pigments used in a variety of applications including the production of printing inks, paint, plastics and artists’ colours.

Phillip Myles, co-founder and operations director at Union Colours, says that the business has grown rapidly since its establishment five years ago. To survive in the colour industry requires a competitive cost base, signifi-cant development capabilities and a first-class technical sales network, he says. ‘However, for long-term sustain-ability we need a substantial global infrastructure along these same lines. We are working hard to build this infrastructure, supported by organic sales growth, but ultimately acquisition is key’, concludes Myles.

Contact:Union Colours Ltd, Union House, Hempshaw Lane, Stockport,

SK1 4LG, UK. Tel: +44 161 475 7200, Web: unioncolours.com

Widespread price increases for polymer additives

With costs rising again for key raw materials in recent months, regular price increases

also are becoming the norm for a wide range of polymer additives including pigments, plasticiz-ers and modifiers. Producers are also citing rising energy and freight costs and the need to speed up the recovery of such elevated operating costs in the current economic climate. All listed chang-es are subject to existing contracts.

Arkema (www.arkema.com) has introduced price increases for its polymer additive ranges in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Effective from 1 August 2009, EMEA prices for Durastrength® acrylic impact modifiers and Plastistrength® processing aids will be increased by up to �130/tonne, and those for Clearstrength® MBS impact modifiers by up to �200/tonne. These price increases are required to offset the recent substantial rises in the costs of major raw materi-als, Arkema says. The company has also increased prices for its Evatane, Lotryl, Lotader and Orevac ranges of functional polyolefins by �100/tonne from 1 September.

Also in Europe, BASF (www.basf.com) raised prices for its Vinuran® line of modifiers for PVC from 1 September. The price for impact modifiers increased by �150/tonne and for processing aids by �120/tonne. From late August, the com-pany also raised the price of plasticizer intermediate 2-ethyl-hexanoic acid (2-EHA) by �20/tonne in Europe.

Elsewhere, Eastman Chemical Co (www.eastman.com) is increasing prices in North America and Latin America for a number of its plasticizer products. Both list and off-list prices have been increased by US$0.05/lb ($0.11/kg) from 15 September for Eastman™ DOP, 168, 168-CA, 168 Xtreme, DOA, DOA Kosher, 425, TOTM, TEG-EH, DBP, and DUP Stabilized and Unstabilized plasticizers. This is in addition to a $0.05/lb increase in the off-list prices for DOP and 168 plasticizers from 1 September in the region. The company has also raised prices for intermediate oxo products 2-ethylhexanol and 2-ethylhexanoic acid in both North and Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions in September.

October 2009 Additives for Polymers9

FINANCIALS

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments are experiencing a concentrated series of price increases from all the major manufacturers. As Cristal Global (www.cristalglobal.com) explains, there was a brief period of improved profitability for these products last year but margins have again returned to very low levels at a time when demand is improving. Some modest investment is there-fore needed ‘to return assets to full capability’, it says. Cristal raised the prices of all anatase and rutile Tiona® and Cristal TiO2 products sold in North America by US$0.03/lb and in Brazil up to $150/tonne from 1 August. From the same date, prices in Europe rose by �100/tonne and in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa by $150/tonne.

Major competitor DuPont Titanium Technologies (www.titanium.dupont.com; DTT), the worldwide number one producer of TiO2 pigments, introduced matching increases in North America, and the dollar markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also from 1 August. In the euro markets of Europe and North Africa the increase was �100/tonne. The com-pany has subsequently raised prices in Latin America by US$150/tonne from 1 September and by the same amount in the Asia Pacific region from 1 October. In China the increase is 1RMB/kg. In addition to imple-menting a price increase, DTT plans to reduce payment terms. ‘The current economic environment requires businesses to improve cash-to-cash cycle time in support of a sustainable business model’, says global business director E. Bryan Snell. ‘A reduction in payment terms is an important step along this path.’

From 1 August, Huntsman Pigments (www.hunts-man.com) imposed price rises of US$150/tonne on all grades of TiO2 sold in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, by $0.03/lb in North America, and by �100/tonne (or $150/tonne in dollar-based markets) in Europe. In the Asia Pacific an increase of $150/tonne is applicable from 1 September. Kronos Worldwide (www.kronostio2.com) introduced identical August price rises in North America, Europe and Eastern Europe, as did Tronox Inc (www.tronox.com) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and in North America. In Latin America the increase was $150/tonne and in Asia Pacific �100/tonne. Tronox is currently the subject of a ‘stalking horse’ purchase bid from Huntsman (see p. 6).

Elsewhere, Sachtleben (www.sachtleben.de) raised the prices of all TiO2 products sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa by �100/tonne, by US$150/tonne in

Latin America and the Asia Pacific, and by US$0.07/lb (or C$0.07/lb) in North America from 1 September. The company also introduced an 8% price increase for its Blanc Fixe barium sulphate products and a �100/tonne increase for barium hydroxide additives from 1 August. Also affecting pigments, the Inorganic Materials Business Unit of Evonik Industries (www.evonik.com) increased prices for carbon black pigments by up to 9% depending on the product, effective from 1 August. Finally, at AOC (www.aoc-resins.com), additives, pig-ments and colorants are among the products subject to a US$0.03/lb price increase across Latin America from 10 August 2009.

FINANCIALS

Losses for Ferro continue into second quarter 2009

Ferro Corp posted net sales for the three months ended 30 June 2009 of US$399 mil-

lion, a decline of 37% from the second quarter of 2008. Demand continued to be weak from customers serving economically cyclical markets including construction, automotive and appli-ances. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates accounted for approximately 3% of the fall in sales. However, net sales increased 12%, sequentially, from the first quarter of 2009, with all geographical regions recording growth.

The company recorded a quarterly loss from continu-ing operations of $11.1 million, compared with income of $8.2 million in 2Q 2008. The loss from continuing operations declined from $19.7 million in 1Q 2009. The operating loss for 2Q 2009 included net pre-tax charges of $6.4 million primarily related to manufactur-ing rationalization in Europe and other cost reduction activities. ‘The actions we are taking to reduce cost and expense have lowered our breakeven sales level and, as a result, we recorded positive operating income, higher gross margins, and reduced SG&A expense compared with the first quarter of 2009’, says James F. Kirsch, chairman, president and CEO. Reduced customer demand continued but the company generated ‘signifi-cantly improved operating leverage’ from the modest increase in sales compared with the first quarter, Kirsch