Degussa Increases Prices across Entire Range of High-Performance Polymers and Monomers 

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 

The High Performance Polymers (HP) Business Unit of Degussa GmbH, Marl, Germany, has announced price increases for its VESTAMID®, VESTOSINT®, VESTAMELT®, TROGAMID®, and VESTENAMER® product lines. Product prices will increase by 8 percent on average, depending on product type and region. Customers will be informed of specific price increases by their HP customer service representatives. The price increases will take effect from September 1, 2007.  

Prices of C8 and C12 monomers will increase by 18 percent at the same time. Prior commitments and existing contracts will be honored, and are not affected by the price increases. The price increases will take effect from August 1, 2007.

Degussa continually optimizes its costs along the entire value chain. Over the last few months, however, prices for raw materials and transportation have risen to such levels that the increases can no longer be offset by increasing process efficiency.

The High Performance Polymers Business Unit focuses on the production of customized products, semi-finished products, and systems based on high-performance polymers. It currently employs more than 1,000 people in Marl and at the production sites of Darmstadt, Witten (both in Germany), Lenzing (Austria), Magnolia (USA), Aboshi (Japan), and Changchun (China). It also has access to a worldwide sales and marketing network that includes the hubs of Marl, Shanghai, and Parsippany.

Degussa—a wholly owned subsidiary of the RAG Group—is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our business is creating essentials—innovative products and system solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers’ success. In fiscal 2006 around 36,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 10.9 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of more than 870 million euros.  

Degussa has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early nineties, with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Degussa Group meanwhile owns more than 20 companies in the country, with production sites in Anqiu, Changchun, Dalian, Jining, Liaoyang, Nanning, Nanping, Qingdao, Rizhao, Shanghai, Taiwan and Yingkou. In fiscal year 2006, 4,000 employees generated sales of 460 million euros in China, which is an increase of 60 % from 288 million Euro in 2005.