Chemical Market Reporter back issues from June 1997:
AES, Allied to Develop Nylon Products
Jun 02, 1997 ... ADVANCED ELASTOMER Systems LP, the Monsanto-Exxon partnership, has reached an agreement with AlliedSignal Inc.'s plastics division to jointly develop applications and markets for nylon-based "soft-touch" products.The agreement follows AES' recent introduction of nylon-bondable ...
Agrium Gets a 'Neutral'
Jun 02, 1997 ... SMITH BARNEY analyst Robert Koort initiated coverage of Agrium Inc. with a neutral rating, reflecting the aging of the nitrogen fertilizer cycle. His 1997 and 1998 estimates of $1.73 and $1.75 a share, respectively, are lower than First Call consensus estimates of $1.95 and ...
Alcide, Novus in Antimicrobial Link
Jun 02, 1997 ... ALCIDE CORPORATION and Novus International Inc. have signed an agreement granting Novus exclusive worldwide marketing rights to the Alcide line of poultry antimicrobial products. Also included in the arrangement is an option for distribution rights for future food processing antimicrobial ...
Allied Buys Fine Chemicals Maker, Sells Stake in German Lab Business
Jun 02, 1997; ... ALLIEDSIGNAL INC. continues to strengthen its position in the fine chemicals arena.The company is buying Iropharm Ltd., a privately held manufacturer of fine chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, Germany's Federal Cartel Office has given AlliedSignal and ...
Amoco Chemical Picks Parsons for LAO Plant
Jun 02, 1997 ... AMOCO CHEMICAL Company has awarded Parsons Process Group Inc. a preliminary design contract for a linear alpha olefins project near Red Deer, Alberta. The installed cost is pegged at C$250 million ($180 million). ...
BASF to Raise Global Isocyanates And Study US UV Chemicals Plant
Jun 02, 1997; ... BASF WILL NEARLY DOUBLE its global capacity for methylene diisocyanate and toluene diisocyanate at sites in the US and Germany. Meanwhile, the company's coatings raw materials unit has begun a study of possible sites for a new US plant that would make UV-curing monomers and oligomers. ...
Bayer Negotiates in China On Synthetic Rubber Deal
Jun 02, 1997; ... Agreement with Sinopec to include existing and new plants.CHINA'S LONG-STANDING shortage of high-quality synthetic rubber may be relieved in part if a proposed joint venture by Bayer AG and Sinopec Shanghai GaoOiao Petrochemical Corporation works out as planned.A letter ...
BOC Opens Customer Center
Jun 02, 1997 ... BOC GASES WILL BE opening a national customer service center as part of a $50 million investment program to revamp all of its operations and business process.At the core of the investment is a new, 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, national customer service center in western ...
Booming Domestic Demand Pushes China
Jun 02, 1997; ... Healthy domestic demand for fine chemicals is attracting foreign investment, as the country addresses issues of quality in trying to become a global supplier.Fine chemicals are a growing business in China. Fine chemical output is projected to reach almost half of total chemical ...
BP Scaling Up Cheaper Propane Ammoxidation Route to Acrvlonitrile
Jun 02, 1997; ... BP CHEMICALS INC. HAS STARTED up a first-stage demonstration unit for producing acrylonitrile directly from propane. The company unveiled the technology last fall and has succeeded in scaling up its process, an intermediate step before the technology can be introduced into the marketplace. ...
Brazil Emerges As a Force
Jun 02, 1997; ... The Strong demand for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals propels Brazil to the top of South America's fine chemicals industry.The story in fine chemicals in South America chiefly centers around Brazil, which is experiencing healthy demand for both agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals ....
Budget Resolution Sets 1998 Spending Caps
Jun 02, 1997 ... Blueprint calls for reinstatement of Superfund taxes, but program reforms still needed.THE NON-BINDING BUDGET resolution passed by both the House and the Senate prior to the Memorial Day recess, the first step in a plan to balance the federal budget by 2002, calls for the ...
CHEMICAL PROFILE
Jun 02, 1997 ... <Pre>HYDROFLUORIC ACID June 2, 1997 PRODUCERCAPACITY (*) AlliedSignal, Geismar, La ... ... ... ... ... ... ....130,000 AlliedSignal, Amhurstburg, Ontario, ... ... ... .....52,000 DuPont, La Porte, ...
ChiRex Sale of APAP Business A Move to Focus on Contracting
Jun 02, 1997; ... CHIREX INC.'S RECENT SALE of its acetaminophen business is part of the Wellesley, Mass.-based contract manufacturer's effort to concentrate on its core products. The APAP business was bought by Rhone-Poulenc, one of the world's leading makers of the analgesic.ChiRex wanted to focus ...
Church & Dwight Finds Growth In the Industrial Cleaning Market
Jun 02, 1997; ... CHURCH & DWIGHT CO. is seeing strong growth in its nascent industrial and electronic cleaning products business.The company is one of many firms seeking a place in the emerging market for replacing chlorinated solvents in cleaning applications. C&D has two broad product families--a ...
CMA Forms Partnership with CIIT To Further Human Health Research
Jun 02, 1997 ... THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the Chemicals Industry Institute of Toxicology has created a partnership with Chemical Manufacturers Association to support and conduct research on human health and ecological issues of concerns to the chemicals industry.CMA will provide support from its ...
COMPANY NEWS
Jun 02, 1997 ... General Chemical Buys PeridotTHE GENERAL CHEMICAL GROUP Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire all of the stock of privately held Peridot Holdings Inc., a manufacturer and supplier of sulfuric acid and water treatment chemicals and an operator of terminals for the industrial, ...
Consolidated Federal Air Rule Optional for Organics Makers
Jun 02, 1997; ... AN UPCOMING PROPOSAL to establish a consolidated federal air rule for the synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry will be optional because the "control stringency" for some emission points may increase, says an Environmental Protection Agency official.Rick Colyer, an ...
Copley Pharmaceutical Heads Guilty, Agrees to Pay Fine of Over $10 Million
Jun 02, 1997 ... COPLEY PHARMACEUTICAL Inc. has plead guilty to a one-count criminal charge of lying to the federal government in conjunction with the manufacture of four generic drugs. Copley will pay $10.65 million, the largest criminal fine ever imposed on a generic drug producer.Copley has also ...
Courtaulds to Try Pulp Futures
Jun 02, 1997 ... COURTAULDS IS CLOSE to finalizing a deal with a unnamed major pulp producer on a future pricing scheme for supplies of dissolving pulp for its cellulosic fibers operations.The company already has a future pricing agreement on acrylonitrile with a leading producer, thought to be BP ...
Covance On Line with Biotech Unit
Jun 02, 1997; ... COVANCE INC. SAYS it dedicated the largest biotechnology facility in the word devoted exclusively to outsourcing when the company opened its new plant in Research Triangle Park, N.C., last month.Construction on the 109,000-squarefoot plant was completed last November. The company ...
Degussa Offers New [H.sub.2][0.sub.2] Process
Jun 02, 1997 ... WITH THE ELIMINATION of hypochlorite and chlorine from pulp bleaching, and the move toward elemental chlorine free (ECF) and total chlorine free (TCF), hydrogen peroxide is being more extensively used as a "stand alone" in the brightening stage. However, hydrogen peroxide requires long ...
Dow, Olin Fall in Line With Chlorine Price Hike
Jun 02, 1997 ... A WEEK AFTER TWO producers led the way with a $25-per-ton price increase, two other producers have stepped in line with their own price hikes. Dow Chemical Company and Olin Corporation are both increasing their off-schedule prices for liquid chlorine by $25 per ton, not to exceed list ...
Dow TPU Expansion in Texas Allows European Market Entry
Jun 02, 1997 ... Dow CHEMICAL Company's plastics unit is introducing its Pellethane thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers in Europe.Dow says availability of the TPUs is the result of an expansion ongoing at its La Porte, Tex., facility which will ultimately increase TPU output by about 50 million ...
DyStar Shows Interest In Clariant Dyestuffs
Jun 02, 1997 ... DYSTAR, THE 50-50 joint venture in textile dyes between Hoechst and Bayer, has confirmed that it would like to take control of the textile dyes business of Clariant.General manager Alfred Rad told a press conference in Frankfurt last week that DyStar was interested in merging the ...
Eastern Europe Showing Promise
Jun 02, 1997; ... Eastern Europe's fine chemical industry shows promise, but outside investment is required to realize its potential.Showing signs of recovery from the economic and political turmoil of the last decade, Eastern Europe's fine chemicals industry is beginning in exhibit signs of life ....
EC to Investigate Nitrate Fertilizer Sent from Russis
Jun 02, 1997 ... EU fertilizer makers say Russian producers are bypassing a price floor.THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has started an official investigation into imports of Russian ammonium nitrate that could result in a tightening up of existing restrictions on Russian fertilizer exports into the ...
EPA Final Cluster Rule Sent To OMB Office for Clearance
Jun 02, 1997 ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency's final "cluster rule" setting pollution control standards for pulp and paper mills would require the industry to substantially reduce--but not totally eliminate--emissions of dioxin and other toxic chemicals into the air and water.The rule, which ...
EPA Increases Fees For Tolerance Levels
Jun 02, 1997 ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency has increased the fees charged for processing petitions for tolerances or legal residue limits in food and feed by the same 3.33 percent pay increase provided civilian employees in the federal government in January 1997.Under the new fee schedule, ...
EPA's Latest TRI Report Shows Decline of Hazardous Releases
Jun 02, 1997 ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency's latest Toxic Release Inventory report shows that releases of hazardous chemicals into the environment are declining even though US manufacturers are generating more toxic waste each year.The TRI data indicate that in 1995, factories and businesses ...
Europe in Brief
Jun 02, 1997 ... BOREALIS is planning to raise bimodal polyethylene capacity at Porvoo, Finland, by 20,000 tons to 140,000 tons' a year, with an expansion that will come into operation in the late summer of 1998.RHONE-POULENC chairman JeanRene Fourtou reiterated in an interview that he sees no ...
European Viscose Fiber Makers Suffer This Year
Jun 02, 1997; ... Lenzing expects to post a loss while Courtaulds and Akzo Nobel report sharp profit declines.LENZING IS WARNING that it expects to post a loss in 1997 for the second successive year, mainly as a result of overcapacity and low prices in both the European and global fibers markets. ...
Exxon Hikes Neo Acids At Baton Rouge Plant
Jun 02, 1997 ... EXXON CHEMICAL Company has expanded the neo acid capacity of its petrochemical complex in Baton Rouge, La., by 40 percent. The expansion is the first of two planned for the site's neo acid unit during the next few years. The company simultaneously expanded its Glydexx glycidyl ester ...
Fabrigas and Messer in Guatemalan JV
Jun 02, 1997 ... GUATEMALA'S FABKIGAS and the Messer Group have agreed to a joint venture for the production and distribution of industrial gases in Guatemala. Messer says it is also discussing other joint ventures in the region.Both companies will have an equal stake in the new company. Messer ...
Feedstock Demand for Petrochems Shows Five Percent Growth Annually
Jun 02, 1997 ... PETROCHEMICAL FEEDSTOCK demand has grown rapidly during the past 15 years, but most chemicals are expected to keep up with the growth. Demand for methanol, however, is expected to decline as growth rates for the feedstock begin to level off.Ethylene demand, according to the ...
Fermentation Bubbles with Activity
Jun 02, 1997; ... Fermentation is helping fine chemical companies carve out a niche and compete on a global basis.Fermentation is becoming a more frequently used tool in fine chemical manufacture. As the biotech revolution reshapes the ways in which researchers, chemists and manufacturers evaluate ...
Fischer Chemicals Offers Custom, Source Services
Jun 02, 1997; ... FISCHER CHEMICALS AG, Zurich; Switzerland, is supplying intermediates and custom manufacturing activities for drug compounds serving many therapeutic categories. The company can also provide small-scale production and certain chiral compounds.Intermediates are available for ...
Fortunes Change in Western Europe
Jun 02, 1997; ... Changes to European patent laws place new pressures on Italian and Spanish producers of bulk actives and intermediates.The tables are turning on Italian and Spanish fine chemical producers. Traditionally suppliers of low-cost bulk actives and pharmaceutical intermediates, changes ...
Fragrance Trends for Winter Edge Toward Sporty and Cool
Jun 02, 1997; ... SPORTY FRAGRANCES are projected to be big winners in the coming months, according to the Fragrance Foundation's annual fall/winter industry trends report, released over breakfast at the Waldorf-Astoria on Thursday, May 22. As in the past, the report focuses mainly on women's and men's scent ...
Harris Chemical Increases Sales But Reports a Loss for the Year
Jun 02, 1997 ... BENEFITING FROM INCREASED salt and specialty fertilizer sales, Harris Chemical North America Inc. reported fourth quarter sales of $165.6 million, a 3 percent increase over the same period one year ago.Operating income of $35.8 million was up from $26.2 million last year. Net ...
High-Purity MTBE Has Pharma Solvent Niche
Jun 02, 1997 ... HIGH-PURITY MTBE, though only a fraction of the overall MTBE market, is growing as a mid-priced solvent for the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries particularly as a replacement for methylene chloride and diethyl ether.Arco Chemical Company, which dominates the high-purity ...
Hoechst Expands Singapore Acetyls
Jun 02, 1997 ... HOECHST AG MANAGEMENT has given the go-ahead to add two grassroots acetyts plants to the complex it is building on Singapore's Sakra Island.Approved as anticipated is a 500,000ton acetic acid plant expected onstream no later than January 2001 (CMR, 3/10/97, pg. 10). Also endorsed ...
House Members Urged To Block Fuel Credit Effort
Jun 02, 1997 ... CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS are being urged by a group of 96 House members to thwart an effort spearheaded by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Tex.) to eliminate tax subsidies for ethanol fuel.Supporters of the ethanol excise tax exemption have asked House Speaker ...
Huntsman and RWE to Proceed With European Maleic Facility
Jun 02, 1997 ... Competitors warn of overcapacity if all projects are built.HUNTSMAN CORPORATION and RWEDEA have finalized an agreement on a new joint venture maleic anhydride plant in Germany amid warnings about a risk of overcapacity in Europe.The joint venture, to be called ...
India
Jun 02, 1997 ... Strong growth marks India's fine chemicals industry, as the country begins to explore a transition from its role as strictly a low-cost supplier to a more advanced intermediates player. Domestic demand for fine chemicals in India is estimated at $3 billion, notes Enrico Polastro, ...
India's Grasim Eyes A Rayon Fiber Plant
Jun 02, 1997 ... GRASIM INDUSTRIES Ltd. is planning to raise $60 million for expansion plans, including a 60,000-metric-ton-per-year viscose staple fiber plant for India's Gujarat state.About half the anticipated funding would go toward upgrading the company's present production ...
Inedible Tallow on an Upswing, Buoyed by Fractionator Demand
Jun 02, 1997; ... AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS of freefall, inedible tallow is back on the upswing. From a low of 16.5 cents in April, inedible tallow has strengthened to 19.25 cents per pound.Observers attribute the rebound to tightened supplies. US Department of Agriculture projects a 1997 cattle ...
IOC Picks Teesside for Planned Methanol Plant
Jun 02, 1997 ... INTERNATIONAL OFFSHORE Chemicals (IOC), a recently formed start-up company, has opted for Teesside, England, as the location for a proposed methanol and ammonia project.The company, which has over 100 private investors, had been considering sites at Peterhead, northeast Scotland, ...
ISO Roundup
Jun 02, 1997 ... M.A. HANNA RUBBERM.A. Hanna Rubber Compounding, a business unit of M.A. Hanna Company, has achieved ISO 9001 certification for its facility in DeForest, Wis. The company says the registration provides customers with an independent measure of its quality assurance in manufacturing ...
Japan
Jun 02, 1997 ... Unlike the US and Western Europe, Japan's fine chemical industry is fairly inward, although this is slowly beginning to change. Domestic production is estimated at $7 billion, with demand estimated at $6 billion, notes Enrico Polastro, vice-president with the Brussels office of Arthur D ....
Koch Gets Honors
Jun 02, 1997 ... NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL has honored a Koch Industries Inc. unit, which operates an anhydrous ammonia pipeline system across seven states, for its safety record. The Herman, Mo., division of Koch Pipeline Company L.P. was ...
Kugler Is Second Fertilizer Maker To Expand Ammonium Thiosulfate
Jun 02, 1997 ... SOARING DEMAND from the agricultural market has prompted another producer to plan an expansion of its ammonium thiosulfate (ATS) capacity. McCook, Neb.-based Kugler Company plans to double the capacity of its fertilizer plant in Gulbertson, Nob. The expansion is expected to be complete in ...
Magnesium Chemicals Show Strength As Market Moves to Higher-End Uses
Jun 02, 1997; ... PRICES FOR MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS have begun to firm after their slide from mid1996. Domestic producers are optimistic that the trend will become even more positive as the market continues to increase in the higher-end sectors.The price swings have been caused mostly by the vagaries ...
Methanol Market Leveling Out But Major Players Create a Floor
Jun 02, 1997; ... METHANOL IS FINALLY starting to weaken after months of strong pricing, though analysts caution that industry consolidation may keep prices artificially high.Consolidation also appears to hold the key to the market's long-term strength. Millions of tons of new capacity is scheduled ...
Methionine Makers Meet Milestones
Jun 02, 1997 ... THE TWO LEADING US producers of methionine products have both hit production milestones and at the same time are also involved in significant expansion projects.Degussa Corporation has produced its billionth pound of DL-methionine at its Mobile, Ala., manufacturing complex. "This ...
Millennium Ethylene Pipeline Is Delayed
Jun 02, 1997 ... MILLENNIUM PETROCHEMICALS Inc. has received permission to build its 114-mile ethylene pipeline, which will connect its Clinton, Iowa, and Morris, Ill., chemical facilities, from about three-quarters of the necessary landowners. The remaining landowners, however, are holding out. ...
Millennium Forms Subsidiary, Enters Collaboration with Lilly
Jun 02, 1997 ... MILLENNIUM PHARMACEUTICALS Inc. is forming a new subsidiary, Millennium Biotherapeutics Inc. (MBIO) to develop and commercialize therapeutic proteins, antibody therapy, gene therapy and antisense products. In addition, Eli Lilly & Co. is making a $20 million equity investment in the new ...
Millennium to Close High-Density Line
Jun 02, 1997 ... Shutdown of less efficient unit to be offset by debottlenecking elsewhere.MILLENNIUM PETROCHEMICALS Inc. will permanently shut down 240 million pounds of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) capacity at its LaPorte, Tex., facility. The shutdown of will take place in two phases, with an ...
Monarch Buys Rights to Glaxo Line
Jun 02, 1997 ... MONARCH PHARMACEUTICALS Inc., a subsidiary of King Pharmaceuticals Inc., has acquired the US fights to a Glaxo Wellcome trifluridine ophthalmic solution. Trademarked as Viroptic, the product is indicated for the treatment of inflammation of the cornea of the eye caused by the Herpes simplex ...
Norman, Fox Markets New Non-Ionic Amide
Jun 02, 1997 ... NORMAN, Fox & Co. is producing a new non-ionic amide which it says overcomes the inherent limitations of cocamide DEA and can be used as a primary surfactant.Most alkanolamides have limited water solubility, preventing them from functioning as primary surfactants. Modified ...
Nutritional Supplement Industry Gets Chemical Makers Attention
Jun 02, 1997; ... EXPLOSIVE GROWTH in the nutritional supplement sector has captured the attention of the chemical industry, whose rising interest was reflected by the robust attendence for the Vitamin and Nutritional Supplements Seminar held recently at the Chemist's Club in New York by the Drug, Chemical & ...
PEN Polyester Product Poised To Claim Center Stage Position
Jun 02, 1997 ... POLYETHYLENE NAPHTHALATE is ready to "take its place as the next break-out product" in the plastics, packaging and materials industries, according to Kline & Co., a consultancy based in Fairfield, N.J.PEN is the latest commercial-scale addition to the polyester family, and it ...
Pharmacia & Upjohn Get Market Approval
Jun 02, 1997 ... PHARMACIA & UPJOHN INC. has received authorization from the United Kingdom Medicines Control Agency to market its Edronax brand reboxetine tablets. Pharmacia & Upjohn will use EU mutual recognition procedures to obtain marketing authorizations in other European countries.Edronax ...
Polypropylene Makers Brace for Exxon Startup
Jun 02, 1997; ... Big new plant has put pressure on pricing since early this year.FEARS OF OVERSUPPLY are sending chills through the polypropylene industry as Exxon Chemical Company prepares for mechanical startup of its new 550-million-pound line. Rising feedstock costs and continuing transport ...
Positive Returns on Capital Could Justify Building Sprees
Jun 02, 1997; ... ON THE EDGE OF EVERY downturn in the petrochemical cycle, one question perpetually arises among analysts and investors: Why does the industry build to overcapacity every time, driving down prices and margins?Smith Barney analysts James H. Wilbur and Michael K. Tong question the ...