Lanxess increase prices for acrylic-acid based chemicals
2 March 2011Specialty chemicals company Lanxess is to increase their prices worldwide for acrylic-acid-based leather chemicals effective March 1, 2011, in response to steeply rising raw material costs. The price for acrylate binders is to be increased by at least 10% while polymer tanning materials will go up by 40%.
‘The price for propylene, the key raw material in the manufacture of acrylates, has increased by more than 30% in the past 12 months, while acrylic acids are now 55% more expensive. In the medium term there is no obvious cost relief on the raw material side,’ says Bianca Verstegen, Global Product Management Finishing in the Leather business unit.
The need for acrylates has surged in the industry owing to increased global demand for coatings, water treatment chemicals and superabsorbent polymers.
In the leather sector, acrylate binders or polyacrylate emulsions are used, for example, in the manufacture of automotive leather.
