Bioplastics producers prepare for price rises

Users of bioplastics should prepare for double-digit percentage price rises in the near future as the impact of rising energy prices begins to bite.

US bioplastics market leader NatureWorks, a subsidiary of Cargill, is beginning a price push that could see prices for some of its PLA resin users increase by up to 20%.

Natureworks global commercial director Snehal Desai said the increases will be based on volume off-take and will not be across the board. However, he acknowledges that the company’s manufacturing model is “not immune” to rising energy prices.

Novamont, the leading European player in the bioplastics sector, has not asked for higher prices yet. But the company’s new business development manager Stefano Facco says energy prices do have an influence on its economics.

“At the moment we are not planning (price rises) but we are evaluating over the next two or three weeks how our costs will increase,” he told PRW.com.

BASF has also announced a 20% price increase for its Ecoflex biodegradable polymer. Ecoflex, which is produced from petrochemical feedstocks, is used as a performance modifier in some PLA blends.

The global market for biopolymers will be analysed in detail at EPN’s 8th Bioplastics conference in Frankfurt in December. For more information about the conference and the first Bioplastics Awards, visit www.bpevent.com.

Source

prw.com Sept. 04, 2006.

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