FWA raw materials become tight - Opportunity for Chinese and Indian Producers

Not only are paper FWA (OBA) producers having to deal with the escalating price of raw materials linked to commodity price increases, there is now a growing shortage of raw materials used to make stilbene-based optical brightening (whitening) agents. One rumour has based the reason on the reduced output of the bigger Chinese producers.

The result is:

• Companies which are not back-integrated (eg Clariant) will struggle to get sufficient raw material to manufacture FWAs and will probably have to pay a premium
  
• Chinese producers (eg Transfar Whyyon Chemical) will further increase their prices on any material they have available after they have taken care of their own needs
  
• Indian producers will see this as an opportunity to develop their raw material business, which over the last few years has been eclipsed by the Chinese

The key raw materials are diamino stilbene (4,4'-diaminostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid), aniline disulphonic acid, cyanuric chloride and sulphanilic acid. One only has to look at the surge in p-nitrotoluene prices to surmise on the future impact of the recent market changes. It will also be interesting to watch how the major 4 suppliers (Ciba, Kemira, Clariant, Transfar) of paper OBAs (FWAs) manage their product supply and how market price increases are implemented. The need for access to supply from China and India has been emphasised before and now it may be difficult to secure supply and possibly too late.

The future looks bright for the Indian and Chinese producers.

PS: Some paper dyes are also based on stilbene chemistry

Keywords:
Paper Chemicals
Optical Brightening Agents
Fluorescent Whitening Agents