Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The CPID Database – Identifies Hundreds of Personal Care and Other Retail Products and the Chemicals They Contain

A database called Consumer Product Information Database (CPID) contains brand names, manufacturers, and other details on hundreds of thousands of personal care, home maintenance, and other types of retail products.  Click here to access this database.  This database, maintained by DeLima Associates, seems to be an excellent source of information for companies on their United States competitors’ products.  A primary purpose of the database is to identify chemicals contained in products and also known health affects of the chemicals contained in the products.

For a listing of personal care products, at the home page, click product type along the top bar menu.  Then select personal care in the left drop down menu.  In the next drop down menu to the right, select one of the personal care categories, such as personal cleanliness.  This will provide is list of products that US manufacturers market as providing personal cleanliness.  On the list that is generated, click on the product name of interest to find details on that product.  Details include: manufacturer and the product’s chemical ingredients.

Personal care is one of 10 product types.  Other product types include: automotive; commercial/institutional; hobby/craft; home inside; home maintenance; home office; landscaping/yard; pesticides; and pet care.   Each product type is further divided into categories. As mentioned above, for the personal care product type, one category is personal cleanliness.  Some other personal care categories are:  bath/shower; oral hygiene; and shaving cream.  

The database can be searched by a specific product name to find detailed information (e.g. manufacturer and chemical ingredients) for that product.


This consumer product database strikes me as immense and useful in terms of the details provided on thousands of retail products containing chemicals.   The database should be useful in providing a company details on the products marketed by the company’s competitors.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Increasing Use of UV LEDs

In recent years, as the technology of ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) has improved, the use of UV LEDs has significantly increased.  An extensive search of the Internet has found references to UV LEDs used in the following applications:

Back light
Chemical synthesis
Cosmetics sterilization
Counterfeit money detection
Curing of coatings, inks, and adhesives
Disinfection and purification
Forensic applications
Instrumental chemical analysis
Medical therapies
Optical sensing
Plant growth

However, also found are stated problems that are hindering even further UV LED uses.    Problems stated include:

Costs
Insufficient photo-initiators in the right UV ranges
Lack of diodes generating needed wavelengths
Lack of heat
Optics
Oxygen inhibition
Slow curing rates compared to mercury lamps
Lack of standardization guidelines
Suitable substrates
Thermal management

The 2013 market for UV LED products is estimated to be in the range of $40 to $50 million. This estimate is provided by producers of market research reports, which can be purchased.  The same reports estimate the sales compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of these products to be in the 30 to 43% range over the period 2013 to 2018.   So, if in 2013 sales is $45 million and the CAGR is 36.5%, in 2018, UV LED products will have sales of about $213 million.

On the basis of the above referenced Internet searching, it seems to me that two critical technologies where development work is still going on and where successes are crucial to increasing use of UV LEDs are:

1.  Enhancing the chemistries that are triggered by the UV, e.g. better photo-initiators; and
2.  More efficient and effective light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Some chemical companies doing photo-initiator, and related research, are: Bayer Material Science; DSM; Arkema; BASF; Cytec; Mitsui; and Evonik.

And some companies doing R&D to enhance UV LEDs are: Nitride Semiconductor; Semileds; Nichia; Seoul Semiconductor; and Sensor Electronic Technology

Although the current market percentage for UV LED products is relatively small compared to products using non-LED generated UV, this parentage is likely to significantly increase in future years due to the many advantages that generating UV radiation using LEDs offer.  Some advantages identified during Internet searching include:

Concentrated radiation
Longer life times compared to mercury lamps
Faster warm-up and cool-down times
Narrower power distribution
Lower heat generation compared to mercury lamps
Lower energy use compared to mercury lamps
Improved environmental affects, e.g. no mercury vapor, ozone,
and organic vapors
Consistent, predictable radiation output over time
Smaller wavelength generation range
More control over UV radiation generation compared to mercury lamps
Smaller, more compact associated equipment leading to more efficient processing
Lower maintenance compared to mercury lamps


Thursday, December 11, 2014

Epoxy Resin Market and Annual Report Data

Epoxy resin market data reported on the Internet by various market research companies suggest that an epoxy resin global use in 2012 was approximately 2.5 million metric tons.  And the 2013 global sales value was approximately $6.3 billion.  A check on these amounts is the price per metric ton ($6.3 billion/2.5 million metric ton = $2,520/metric ton).  This $/metric ton amount is reasonably correct for the period, which helps to reassure that the market research companies’ reported data is reasonably correct.

The same market research company information predicts that the compound annual growth rate over the next five years will be highest in Asia (except Japan) and in the 5 to 7% range, and low in the United States and Europe, in the 1 to 2% range.  Also, greater than 50% of epoxy resin sales will be in Asian countries.

A review of recent annual reports for some of the companies in these regions, known to be major producers of epoxy resins, support the growth rates given above.  For example, the US company Momentive, in its annual report, stated that sustained over-capacity in the epoxy resin market has significantly lowered the company’s epoxy resin sales, and this was expected to continue through 2014.   Huntsman’s epoxy resin sales were down about 4% from 2012 to 2013.   And, Dow is reporting that it is trying to sell some, or all (it is not clear), of its epoxy business, which includes epoxy resins.

On the other hand, two major Asian epoxy resin producers, the Taiwanese company Nan Ya and the Korean company Kumho, are expanding their epoxy resin production capacities.

Please contact me if you wish more on the above or similar research and analysis on other chemical sales.


Monday, December 1, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – November 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is November 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the October 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the October alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from October to be reported as in short supply are: none

Section II.   Shortages Reported in November not found on the Previous Month’s List

Cement: Michigan; supply not keeping up with demand
Silver: global; supply not keeping up with demand
Gold: global; supply not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: none
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available:  none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  cement; silver; gold


Saturday, November 29, 2014

Market Share and CAGRs – Japan’s Agrochemical Producers

Internet research found ten Japanese public chemical companies that report separately in their annual reports on agrochemical sales.  These companies are identified in the following table:


Company

               most recently reported sales
market share
Ihara
¥18,142,000,000
$178,708,985
2.8%
Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha
¥50,364,000,000
$496,113,951
7.8%
Kumiai
¥49,283,000,000
$485,465,489
7.6%
Meiji
¥21,500,000,000
$211,787,188
3.3%
Mitsui
¥51,408,000,000
$506,397,943
7.9%
Nihon Nohyaku
¥39,171,000,000
$385,856,556
6.0%
Nippon Soda
¥43,321,000,000
$426,736,409
6.7%
Nissan
¥35,418,000,000
$348,887,378
5.5%
SDS Bioteck K.K.
¥13,034,000,000
$128,392,289
2.0%
Sumitomo
¥327,000,000,000
$3,221,135,376
50.4%
total
¥648,641,000,000
 $             6,389,481,565


The total world-wide agrochemical sales for the ten companies in the most recent year reported on in their annual reports is approximately 649 billion yen (6.4 billion US dollars at an exchange rate of 102 yen to 1 USD).  (European and American companies, such as Syngenta and Dow that sell agrochemicals in Japan are not included in the graph because these companies do not report Japanese agrochemical sales separately in their annual reports.)

The percentage of the total sales that each company has is shown in the graph.  Also, from the annual reports, the compound average growth rate (CAGR) for each company, based on the most recent three years of agrochemical sales, was calculated.  The average CAGR for the ten companies is 7%.

Agrochemical use in Japan seems to me to be uniquely innovative.  The use seems to place a strong emphasis on such things as economical agricultural land-use, high quality agriculture products, and ecological considerations.  Recognizing this use, Japan’s chemical companies, e.g. those listed in the table, have wisely tailored their research and development programs to meet the desires of the Japanese people for its agriculture.  And these programs have been innovative.   One example is the use of small drones to apply agrochemicals.  Other innovations include: “resistance-breaking” agrochemical mixtures; new agrochemical classes; and agrochemical use in rice paddies.

Japan’s development of its agricultural industry, and the ways in which the agrochemical-producing companies support that industry, I suspect, positions those companies well for agrochemical sales in other countries that respond favorably to agriculture in Japan.



Friday, October 31, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – October 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is October 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the September 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the September alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from September to be reported as in short supply are: bricks (United Kingdom); zinc (global)

Section II.   Shortages Reported in October not found on the Previous Month’s List

Cement: Minnesota; production not keeping up with demand
Solar Panels: global; production not keeping up with demand
Water: Brazil (San Paulo); draught
Ferro-silicon: Brazil; production not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: cement; solar panels; ferro-silicon
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available:  none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  none




Wednesday, October 22, 2014

2013 Approximate Sales and CAGRs for 10 Food Additives

An intensive Internet search was conducted to find information providing 2013 sales data and compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) for food additives.  Several market reports were found providing such data.

The chart below shows the sales and CAGR data that were found for 10 food additives, identified in the chart.  The data should be considered to be approximate estimates.  For some data, different sales and CAGR estimates were found, suggesting difficulties in exactly determining the actual data.

The CAGRs are expected annual sales growth rates for the next five years.  Again, the CAGRs should only be considered to be approximate, with many factors potentially altering the growth rates.

The data is presented by marketing research companies in information on the Internet while promoting in-depth reports on the food additive industry that the marketing companies are selling.   Because of the efforts made by these marketing research companies in preparing these reports, which cost several thousand dollars, it is likely that the estimated sales and CAGR data are as accurate as can be found on the Internet, or elsewhere.

It seems to me that knowing the relative sales and sales growth magnitudes of these 10 food additives could be useful in company decision-making.  Also, knowing that the total sales for all 10 food additives in 2013 were approximately $43 billion, if the estimates for the sales data are reasonably close, should be useful.




Thursday, October 9, 2014

Electronics Segments at Japanese Chemical Companies

Several Japanese public chemical companies have separate business segments representing what these companies consider to be their businesses associated with “electronics”.  Companies that report “electronics” segments in their annual reports include:  Asahi Glass; Asahi Kasei; Nagase; Mitsubishi; Sanyo; Shin Etsu: Showa Denko; Sumitomo; and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. 

From the annual reports of these companies, the following are some of the products and services that the companies lump into their electronics segments:

abrasives
battery materials
CMP slurries
color filters
digital camera filters
display device materials
electrolytes for aluminum electrolytic capacitors
encapsulation materials
flexible display materials
glass-related materials and processing
hard disk media
high-grade chemical management services
high-purity chemicals
large-scale integration (LSI)
light emitting diode (LED) materials
liquid crystal display (LCD) materials
magnetic sensors
optical products
organic lighting materials
organic photovoltaic models and materials
photo mask materials
photo resist materials
polycarbonate sheets and films
quartz products
rare earth magnetic alloys
recording media
resins
semiconductor materials
solar cell materials
surface treatment materials
touch panel materials

Also from the annual reports and the financial data on the electronic segments, for all the companies, the average compound annual growth rate (CAGR), over the last three years,  for electronic segment sales was a negative one percent.  The total electronics segment profit, for all companies, as a percentage of total electronics segment income was thirteen percent (658 billion yen total electronics segment income/5,156 billion yen total electronics segment sales).

Perhaps one of the strongest sectors in the Japanese chemical industry is the sector that supports Japan’s electronics industry, an industry generally recognized as a world leader.  And, therefore, probably the chemical company segments (for example the segments discussed above) supporting Japan’s electronics industry are also world class.    A good example of this is the recent 2014 Noble Prize in Physics awarded to two Japanese researchers (and also to an American researcher) for inventing efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. 


The above financial results for the chemical companies’ electronics segments are not impressive, and are in-line with a less than robust Japanese economy.  However, the segment's technical capabilities are probably equal to the best in the world, and best in Asia.  With Asian future economic growth, and its demand for electronics, if Japan’s chemical companies offering chemical support can tap into supporting this demand, these companies’ futures should be bright.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – September 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is September 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the August 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the August alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from August to be reported as in short supply are: iron ore (India); bricks (United Kingdom)

Section II.   Shortages Reported in September not found on the Previous Month’s List

Zinc:  global; mining not keeping up with demand.

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: zinc
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: none
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available:  none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  none


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Census Bureau Data on the Textile Industry

Some recent articles suggest a re-emergence of textile manufacturing in the United States.  Two such articles are a New York Times article (click here) and a USA Today article (click here).  Data collected by the US Census Bureau and found at its website can also provide some insights into United States textile manufacturing activity.

Census Bureau data is provided on textile product shipment values per year from 1992 to 2013 for three textile industry sectors: textiles mills; textile products; and apparels.  Click here to find this data.

The Textile Mills and Apparel sectors had shipment declines from 1992 to their low-point shipment values during the 2007-2011 recession.  Textile Mills had a 3.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) decrease from 1992 to 2009, the year of the lowest shipments since 1992.  Since 2009, the Textile Mills sector has had a slight rebound of 1.9% CAGR. 

The Apparel Sector also had a dramatic decrease in shipments from 1992 to 2011 of 7.5% CAGR.  And, like the Textile Mills sector, Apparels has had a slight shipments increase of 1.5% CAGR from 2011.

The Textile Products sector shows a different pattern for annual shipments.  This sector actually increased in shipments from 1992 to 2005 by 2.5% CAGR.  Then, likely because of the recession in the 2006 to 2010 period, there was an annual decrease in shipments. But, since the low point in 2010, the shipments in this sector have increased at a 4.5% CAGR, which is higher than the 1992 to 2005 period.  This 4.5% could well be viewed as a re-emergence of textile manufacturing, but manufacturing in what the Census Bureau classifies as Textile Products.  Click here (search in 2012 on textile products) for some insights into what the Census Bureau considers as Textile Products.

As indicated in the articles referred to above, this re-emergence of textile manufacturing in the United States seems to have to do with the application of technology, for example, advances in processing equipment.  And the application of such technology might be best applied to obtain highest margins in areas where special products are made, such as might be found in the Census Bureau’s Textile Products sector; versus more routine textile mills and apparel manufacturing processes.  So, perhaps the application of technology is why a higher CAGR over recent years is seen for the Textile Products sector.


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Difficulties in Polyol Use Estimates

Data can be found on the Internet that are estimates of current and future use (consumption) for both petro- and bio-based polyols.  Often these estimates are found in reports being sold by marketing research companies.  For example, the following data was found:

2012 total global use of polyols (total of petro- and bio-based) – 7.5 million metric tons (MT)

Range of the total global polyols used that are bio-based – 5% to 15%

Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total polyols use, 2012 to 2018 – 5.5% to 7.5%

CAGR for bio-based polyol use, 2012 to 2018 – 9.5% to 10.5%

These 2012 and future use estimates are important for company planning purposes and hopefully they are reasonably accurate.  However, even if reasonably accurate, just a small change in the estimates can result in large differences about future polyol use.

Assume that the estimate that a 2012 global total of 7.5 million MT is correct for the use amount of polyols (both petro- and bio-based).  Supposedly, from 5% to 15% of this total is bio-based.  What percentage is used in the 5% to 15% range can make a big difference in the computation of future petro- and bio-based polyol estimated use.  The difference between 10% (percentage of bio-based in the total polyol use) and 15% results in a difference of 547,270 MT of petro-based estimated use in 2018 and 844,500 MT of bio-based estimated use in 2018.  These results are based on a CAGR of 6.5% for total polyol growth use and a CAGR of 10% for bio-based growth use.

Changing the assumed 2012 polyol total global use (7.5 million MT) and the CAGRs for either (or both) the total and bio-based polyols for 2018 will also change the results significantly.

The purpose of this blog is to try to demonstrate, in the above paragraphs, that even small changes in the percentage that is bio-based and the CAGR percentages can make a large difference in results relevant for planning purposes.  A prudent approach, it seems to me, would be to compute expected results for each of the variables, while holding the other variables fixed.   The results should demonstrate how large a range of 2018 use amounts for both petro- and bio-based polyols are (as well as how uncertain they are), even as the estimated ranges for the bio-based percentage of the total and the CAGRs are relatively small.  





Friday, September 5, 2014

Bio-based Chemical Companies Financial Performances

The financial performance of six companies (Amyris; Bioamber; Gevo; Kior; Metabolix; and Solazyme) that focus on developing chemical products and fuels from renewable raw materials were analyzed using their annual reports.   Here are some conclusions:

Over the last three years (2011 to 2013), only Solazyme has consistently been able to price their products high enough to cover the cost of products sold.  The other five companies more often than not had negative gross profits (cost of sales exceeded revenues from the products sold).  This suggests an inability of these five companies to compete in the market with low-enough pricing, but at prices high enough to cover the costs of the products sold.

The total research and development (R&D) expenses ($679,024,935) reported by the six companies over the last three years are twice the total revenues reported by these companies ($339,280,858).  In addition, the capital expenses (e.g., expenses for equipment and construction) of $512,916,197 are one and a half times the revenues.


These large R&D and capital expenses, compared to revenues, account for a significant part of the total net losses ($1,726,733,148) reported by the companies over the last three years.  These high R&D and capital expenses will more likely than not result in some success at generating new, useful, and profitable products.  However, unfortunately, some of these companies will likely not survive, and a difficulty is in predicting which products and companies will.  The six companies’ financial results over the last three years do not give much help with this difficulty. .  For example, although Solazyme and Bioamber revenues have had compound annual growth rates of 41% and 68%, respectively, from 2011 to 2013, both companies have also had huge net losses for each year.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – August 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is August 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the July 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the July alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from June to be reported as in short supply are: iron ore (India).

Section II.   Shortages Reported in August not found on the Previous Month’s List

Chrome ore:  India; supply not keeping up with demand due to government permitting problems.
Bismuth:  China; supply not keeping up with demand.
Bricks:  United Kingdom; supply not keeping up with demand due to not enough plants manufacturing bricks.
Plastics:  India; production not keeping up with demand due to insufficient import of raw materials.
Building materials:  Nepal; supply not keeping up with demand
Coal:  India; mining not keeping up with demand due to government interventions.

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: none
3.  Government regulations: chrome ore; coal
4.  Sources no longer available:  bricks
5.  Insufficient imports:  plastics
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  bismuth; building materials


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Plasticizer Sales

The United States company, Ferro, reported plasticizer sales in its 2013 annual report that were 10% less than the company's 2012 sales.  Ferro had in 2013 substantial plasticizer sales ($292.6 million) with respect to its other product sales, and therefore reported these plasticizer sales separately as segment sales data. 

Much of Ferro plasticizer sales are phthalates.  Unfortunately, for Ferro sales, some phthalates have been barred from use due to health effect concerns, and according to Ferro’s 2013 annual report the company's decrease in plasticizer sales from 2012 to 2013 was driven by changing environmental regulations related to plasticizers.  It is likely that other companies that sell phthalates plasticizers are also experiencing decreased, flat, or, at best, small increases in plasticizer sales.

Eastman also sells plasticizers, but most, if not all, of their plasticizer sales are non-phthalate plasticizers.   According to Eastman’s 2013 annual report, their major non-phthalate plasticizer product increased in sales by 25% from 2012 to 2013.  Eastman states it is the world’s largest non-phthalate plasticizer manufacturer.  This 25% Eastman sales increased for non-phthalate plasticizers probably indicates a shift in demand from phthalate to non-phthalate plasticizers (which the Ferro data above also supports).  With this demand shift, other companies, such as Evonik, Laxness, and Perstorp, have initiated non-phthalate product manufacturing and sales.

In addition to plasticizer product markets based on phthalate and non-phthalates, a third plasticizer market is based on plasticizers derived from bio-based chemicals.  Such large public companies as BASF, Dow, DuPont, and DSM have developed, or are developing, bio-based plasticizer products.   However, because the sales of these bio-based products are such a small percentage of the companies' sales, no data can be found in the companies’ annual reports on how well these products are selling.


Phthalates account for most of plasticizer use and this is likely to continue for some time, since much use seems to  be in a way with very low, if any, health threats.  Bio-based plasticizers would probably have to have equal performance and cost materially less before they gain much market share from phthalates and non-phthalates.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Products

Much research has demonstrated several uses for titanium dioxide nanoparticles.  A search of the Internet and scientific article databases will find hundreds of articles reporting on possible uses of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, based on its properties.  These properties and uses include:

1.  The ability to reduce (decompose) dirt, pollutants, bacteria, and other materials that land on the titanium dioxide nanoparticle surface.  Sunlight striking the nanoparticle surface generates free radicals, which then breakup (reduce, destroy) dirt, pollutants, and other materials.   With this property, titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be used in coating products applied to glass, textile, and other surfaces to counter these materials.
2.  The ability to reflect ultraviolet rays so that these rays do not pass through a coating of titanium dioxide nanoparticles.  With this property, titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be used in sun screening protection products.
3.  The ability to act as a semiconductor material.  With this property, titanium dioxide nanoparticles are finding use in solar cell products

An Internet search for actual products being offered by companies finds products being marketed on the basis of these titanium dioxide nanoparticle properties.  However, much fewer such products are found than might be expected.

A likely explanation for these fewer-than-expected titanium dioxide nanoparticle products is the cost of current methods for producing the nanoparticles.  Another possible explanation might be the concern over the yet-to-be-determined safety of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in certain uses.

Both of these situations - the current cost-prohibitive processes for making titanium dioxide nanoparticles and their possible adverse health effects in certain uses - have been the subject of a lot of recent research

Research that finds less costly production methods and increased assurances of titanium dioxide nanoparticle safety probably will lead to more titanium dioxide nanoparticle products.

Two recent research results that seem favorable for more titanium dioxide nanoparticle products are a less costly method for producing titanium dioxide nanoparticles, reported by the US Department of Energy's Sandia Laboratories, and the lack of adverse health effects in certain titanium dioxide nanoparticle use situations, reported by German universities.   Click here and here to read about this research.  

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles have different physical properties than those for another form of titanium dioxide - the form that has been used for dozens of years as a pigment in paints and other materials to provide white color to the materials.  Click here (PDF file) for an overview of titanium dioxide pigment and nanoparticle characteristics and uses.

According to one major producer of titanium dioxide, the production (use) of titanium dioxide nanoparticles is only about 1% of that of titanium dioxide pigment (click here to read this producer’s estimate).  Recent use (production) estimates for the pigment is about 5 million metric tons, so recent titanium dioxide nanoparticles use is estimated to be about 50,000 metric tons (1% times 5 million metric tons). 


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Recent Crop Protection Chemicals Sales Growth

In my last blog “Recent Composite Materials Sales Growth” (posted on August 8, 2014), I presented an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% for composite materials sales.  This 3.1% is based on the 2011 to 2013 composite materials sales of six companies, companies that are believed to dominate global composite materials sales.

Using the same approach as in this last blog, I now have determined the CAGR for crop protection chemical sales by nine companies (BASF; American Vanguard; FMC; Chemtura; Cheminova; Syngenta; Bayer CropScience; Nufarm; and Isagro).  The average CAGR for these nine companies from 2011 to 2013 is 5.8%.  These nine companies include many of the companies with the largest global crop protection chemical sales, such as Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, and BASF.  Other large crop protection sales companies such a Dow and DuPont could not be included in the CAGR computation because their annual reports do not separate out only crop protection chemical sales from other agricultural-related businesses such as seeds sales.

However, the nine companies likely represent a significant amount of total global crop protection sales, and the 5.8% CAGR amount probably is a reasonably close percentage for the global demand increase for crop protection chemicals over the last 3 years (2011 to 2013).   Such a percentage, it seems to me, can be a useful benchmark for global crop protection sales companies to measure their sales performance by.


Friday, August 8, 2014

Recent Composite Materials Sales Growth

Recent composite materials sales growth for six companies (Cytec; Hexcel; Toray; Teijin; Mitsubishi Chemicals; and SGL) was determined using the 2011 to 2013 annual reports for these companies.  For each of the six companies, the composite materials sales are reported as separate business segments.  Therefore, fairly accurate sales for just composite materials are obtainable for these companies. 

These six companies are believed to account for a significant proportion of total global composite materials sales.  (Hexcel’s description of its composite materials business provides what is met by the terms composite materials in this blog.  You can read this description in the Hexcel 2013 annual report by clicking here – PDF file.)

Using the annual 2011 to 2013 sales of composite materials for these companies, an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% was obtained for the six companies.  This suggests that the growth of composite materials demand (need) in the countries serviced by the six companies is approximately 3% per year over the past few years.   3% does not suggest robust sales (demand).  The total 2013 sales of composite materials sales by these six companies provided in their annual reports is approximately $6.5 billion.

I specialize in finding and analyzing chemical industry data and statistics and then developing interesting insights based on the analyses.  Please email me if you think I can be of service to you.


Monday, August 4, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – July 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is July 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the June 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the June alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from June to be reported as in short supply are: iron ore (India).

Section II.   Shortages Reported in July not found on the Previous Month’s List

Benzene:  United States; production not keeping up with demand, due to lower petroleum processing.
Vinyl acetate:  United States; production not keeping up with demand.

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: benzene; vinyl acetate
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available:  none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  none


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Nutritional Products Sales Increases

In 2013, DSM, FMC, BASF, and DuPont had significant nutritional products sales.  Each company has a separate segment where nutritional products represent an important contribution to the segment’s sales.  In 2013, DSM's segment, called Nutrition, accounted for 46.4% of total company sales.  For the other companies, their corresponding Nutrition & Health segments represented these percentages of total sales: FMC – 19.7%; BASF – 2.8%; and DuPont – 9.7%.  These segments do provide other products in addition to nutritional products, including personal care and flavor/fragrance products, but, nevertheless, nutritional products certainly are part of the segments’ strategic sales goals.

Also, these Nutrition & Health segments are showing reasonably strong sales increases.  For example, the compound average growth rate percentage increases from 2011 to 2013 for the companies’ segments are: DSM – 7.3%; FMC – 5.2%; BASF – 3.9%, and DuPont – 12.2%

Nutritional products being sold by these companies include the following:

DSM - vitamins; nutritional lipids (polyunsaturated fatty acids); enzymes; cultures; and carotenoids.

FMC - omega-3 oils and fatty acids.

BASF - vitamins; carotenoids; sterols; enzymes; and omega-3 fatty acids.

DuPont – probiotics and cultures.

These four, large chemical companies appear to have strong interest in developing their nutritional products businesses.  Reasons might include:

1.  New developments in human and animal nutritional need to be based on good, strong science.   Good, strong science is a major asset of these companies and putting this asset to work, from which useful, in-demand products can be developed, would be attractive to the companies.
2.  Chemical companies excel in the supply chain/logistical requirements of processing raw materials through multiple steps into finished products, an excellence that match well the needs of nutritional products.
3.  Because of 1 and 2, these companies can differentiate their products from others and through these differentiations, higher margins can be expected.

4.  With larger global, more economically robust, and older populations, interest and use of nutritional products likely will grow.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Industrial Enzymes Profits and Demand Are Strong

An extensive Internet search and analysis have identified four public companies with significant industrial enzymes sales.  These companies are: Novozymes; DuPont; DSM; and Chr Hansen.   In Novozymes' 2013 annual report, the company estimates that the total global industrial enzymes sales for all companies to be more than $3.9 billion, a 5% increase over the 2012 global sales.   The report states that Novozymes is the global sales leader in industrial enzymes products, with 48% of the market, followed by DuPont with 20%, DSM with 6%, and others with 24%.

The four companies indicate in their annual reports (annual reports can be read at the companies’ websites) high growth expectations for future sales of enzymes products.  And, each company indicates that industrial enzymes research and development is expected to lead to more enzymes uses in several industry sectors.

The following data and information relate to the above four companies’ industrial enzymes businesses.  The data and information are from the companies' 2013 annual reports.

Novozymes   Unlike the other four companies, Novozymes sales are predominantly industrial enzymes; therefore, computing a reasonably accurate gross profit margin percentage (GPM%) for enzymes sales is possible (most of the reported total company sales and cost of sales are enzymes revenues and costs).   Novozymes’ GPM% in 2013 was 57%.  Novozymes had about $2 billion in total sales in 2013.

DuPont   DuPont became the second largest provider of enzymes products with its 2011 acquisition of the Danish company Danisco, which at that time was the second largest enzymes provider, behind Novozymes.  DuPont’s industrial enzymes business is in its industrial biosciences segment and from the company’s 2013 annual report, enzymes represented 79% of the segments sales, or $950,000,000.  

DSM   DSM in 2012 acquired enzymes businesses of the US companies Cargill and Verenium to increase its own enzymes business.  DSM enzymes business focuses on the food and beverage industry and DSM has its enzymes business in its Food Specialties Division.  In 2013, the Food Specialties Division had about $558,000,000 in sales, most of which were enzymes products.  This sales amount was about 13.5% higher than 2012 sales.

Chr Hansen   61% of Chr Hansen’s 2013 sales were enzymes products. This 61% represented about $600,000,000 in sales.  The overall GPM% for all Chr Hansen sales was 85%.   With 61% of the sales enzymes, it is likely that enzymes sales had a high GPM% (as enzymes sales do at Novozymes, which was 57% in 2013).   Chr Hansen enzymes are exclusively for the food industry.

The total approximate enzymes sales for the four companies provided above comes to $4.1 billion, which is reasonably close to what Novozymes estimated in its annual report for the global enzymes sales in 2013 (which was $3.9 billion).  These four companies probably account for most of the industrial enzyme products sold globally in 2013.

The data and information presented above indicates that profits in the industrial enzymes business are strong and that future enzymes demand is expected to be high.


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Some Production and Export Data on Turkey’s Chemical Industry

A report, titled “The Chemicals Industry in Turkey”, from the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPA) and Deloitte, provides some useful production and export data on Turkey’s chemical industry.  Click here to read the report (PDF file).

According to the report, in 2012, the Turkey chemical industry produced $44 billion worth of chemicals and exported $20 billion, or approximately 45% of the amount produced.  This 45% export amount is surprisingly high, and shows that Turkey’s long-term goal of increasing its chemical exports is being successful.  Over the last several years, both Turkey’s chemical production and export amounts have increased, on average, at around a compound annual growth rate of 9%.

The report also provides production, export, and import data amounts for six chemical sub-groups: paints; fertilizers; personal care; plastics; rubber; and inorganics.  In analyzing this data, some interesting conclusions are reached.  First, for all six sub-groups, imports exceed exports, but much more so for the paints, fertilizers, and plastics sub-groups.  The personal care, rubber, and inorganics sub-groups have exports values much closer to imports.  This suggests to me that products in these three sub-groups (personal care, rubber, and inorganics) do better as exports than products in the other three sub-groups (paints, fertilizers, and plastics).

Another interesting conclusion that the data suggests is that Turkey imports a substantial proportion of its chemicals from countries with well-developed chemical industries, e.g. Germany, Italy, and Russia, whereas a more substantial portion of its exports go to neighboring countries with less-developed chemical industries, such as Iraq, Egypt, and Iran.  An exception to this conclusion is the rubber and inorganics exports, where most of the exports go to more-developed countries.   That Turkey has two huge international companies, Goodyear and Pirelli, producing tires and that Turkey is very rich in mineral resources, such as boron salts, probably account for the demand for Turkey's rubber and inorganics products by more developed countries.

Another interesting conclusion from the analysis of data in the ISPA/Deloitte report is that in 2011 the price of a gallon of Turkey-produced paint (aqueous; non-aqueous; and other paints) was about $4.75 (assuming one gallon of paint weighs about 9 pounds).  By comparison, from the United States Census Bureau, the 2011 price in the United States of a gallon of architecture coating paint was about $15.25.  (Click here to go to the US Census Bureau data.)


Please email me if you are interested in more about the above or what might be available on chemical production, import, and export data for other countries.

Friday, July 11, 2014

European Union’s Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas Use Data

A 2013 report “Statistical Report 2013” from Eurogas provides excellent data on the European Union (EU)'s recent use of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).  Click here to read this report (PDF file).

The report shows that the 28 EU countries obtained their natural gas in 2012 from the following sources: member countries – 33%; Russia – 23%; Norway – 22%; Algeria – 9%; and other countries – 13%.  Approximately 5,061 Terawatt hours (TWh) of natural gas was consumed by the EU in 2012.  The EU used approximately 2% less natural gas in 2012 compared to 2011.

Of the natural gas consumed in 2012, approximately 631 TWh of it was imported in the form of LNG.  Therefore, approximately 13% of the natural gas consumption came into the country as LNG (631 TWh imported/5,061 TWh used).  Qatar provided the highest percentage of this 631 TWh LNG imported (45%), followed by: Nigeria – 17%; Algeria – 17%; and others such as Norway, Trinidad-Tobago, Peru, and Egypt.  LNG imports in 2012 were approximately 28% less than in 2011.

In 2012, the EU had approximately 19 LNG degasification terminals, capable of transforming LNG into gas.  The total degasification capacity for these terminals is estimated to be about 2,063 TWh of gas.  However, only about 31% of this capacity was used in 2012 (631 TWh LNG consumed/2,063 TWh capacity).

Because of the upsurge in the United States natural gas supply, due to advances in shale gas extraction, exporting the excess as LNG to Europe (and Asia) is being planned by many companies.  The data given above and in the Eurogas report could be useful in better strategizing LNG exports to Europe.


Data in the report came from natural gas associations in the EU countries and elsewhere, member companies of Eurogas, and other sources.  Eurogas is a non-profit association representing the interests of the European gas industry.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Chemical and Material Shortage Alert – June 2014

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and material shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is June 2014.

Section I below lists those chemicals and materials that were on the previous Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the May 2014 Chemical and Material Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and materials (not on the May alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.   Chemicals and materials identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Chemicals and materials that continue from May to be reported as in short supply are: iron ore (India).

Section II.   Shortages Reported in June not found on the Previous Month’s List

Lumber:  United States; supply not keeping up with demand.
Butadiene:  World-wide; production not keeping up with demand (increased natural gas, reduced petroleum as sources for petrochemicals, decreasing production of butadiene).

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none
2.  Production not keeping up with demand: butadiene
3.  Government regulations: none
4.  Sources no longer available:  none
5.  Insufficient imports:  none
6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  lumber




Thursday, June 26, 2014

Percentage of Chemical Imports Supplied by the United States


The graph below shows the percentage of the total chemical imports for 13 countries supplied by Untied States companies (total US company chemical exports to the countries) in 2012.






The percentage results are based on statistical data from two sources – the United States Census Bureau and the World Trade Organization.  The US Census provides export values for categories of products (by NAICS code) exported to countries.  Click here to find these values.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) provides trade statistics by region, country, and product type, including the total value of chemical products imported into countries.  Click here to find these statistics for 2012. 

The WTO statistics include the total value of chemical products imported into a country.  To get the percentages in the graph above, the amount of chemical products exported to the country from the US (from the US Census statistics) was divided by the total chemical products imported into the country (from the WTO statistics).

The percentage results might be useful to show what countries heavily rely on US chemical imports and which countries have little US chemical imports.  Planners might find these percentages useful in developing sales strategies with respect to the individual countries.