Chemical suppliers increasing prices

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture, July, 2008

THE US AND EUROPE -- The Huntsman Corp., Dow Chemical, Dupont and Rohm & Haas have all announced plans to increase prices or add surcharges, as much as 25%, because of increasing energy and raw-material costs.

Huntsman joins the current trend in the chemical industry to pass on higher costs for energy and petroleum-based chemical ingredients to customers. Dow Chemical Co., the biggest U.S. chemical maker, said it would raise its prices as much as 20%, reportedly the highest in company history.

Dow claims its costs for raw materials to make plastics, and cost for the natural gas that powers its factories has jumped 42% in the first quarter from the same period in 2007. These expenses may continue to rise into the current quarter, according to a report quoting Dow CEO Andrew Liveris.

DuPont has also boosting prices, while Rohm & Haas Co has implemented surcharges on all products to recoup rising raw-material costs.

In Europe, Ciba Holding AG, Lanxess AG and Clariant AG are among the chemical producers also increasing prices in response to rising costs.

"We hope we have seen the worst of the energy and commodity price increases," Huntsman CEO Peter Huntsman said in a statement. "The impact of large-scale speculation by traders on the price of energy, in addition to the increased costs we are absorbing from our raw-material suppliers and service providers, cannot be underestimated."