Chemical companies continue to raise prices on materials used by the lubricants industry. Troy Corp., Dow Europe GmbH and Dover Chemical Corp. all announced markups recently. Each cited expenses for raw materials and other inputs, which have been trending upward the past year.
Troy said it will increase prices on some bactericides by 25 cents to 30 cents per pound and that the price of its Polyphase P100 fungicides will rise $1.45 per pound, all effective in the Americas and Asia/Pacific regions on April 15. Regarding the steep hike for Polyphase P100, which is used in metalworking fluids, the Florham Park, N.J., company noted that competing demand has driven up costs for the key ingredient, iodine.
Worldwide iodine demand is growing significantly in new applications, such as flat screen video technology, and in medical applications, such as x-ray contrast media, the company said in a March 29 statement. The high utilization of existing iodine capacity (as high as 98 percent) has created a situation in which supplies are tight. In addition, the costs of other raw materials, energy, labor, packaging, transportation, regulatory compliance, and solvents continue to escalate with no relief anticipated.
Dow said it will raise European prices on several brands of polyalkylene glycol synthetic base stocks by an average of 7 percent, also effective April 15. The announcement applies to Synalox, Terralox, Amilox, Oxilube and Oxitex brand names. Dow Europe, which is based in Horgen, Switzerland, blamed the increases on continuously escalating petrochemical and energy costs. Parent company Dow Chemical is based in Midland, Mich.
Dover Chemical Corp. on Thursday added 5 cents per pound to prices on all chlorinated products, including several that it markets to the lubricants industry: chlorinated paraffins sold under the Paroil and Chlorowax brand names; DO chlorinated olefins; and DA chlorinated fatty compounds. Dover, which is based in Dover, Ohio, said chlorine costs have risen due to increased competing demand and that oil and energy costs have driven up expenses for petrochemicals that it uses.