Paper whiteness - Clariant's OBA crisis!

Clariant has tried to make a case for the current situation in the global OBA (optical brighteneing agent) business (see the recent RISI article) referring to it as an 'OBA Crisis'. It is well worth reading the views expressed in the article but we would leave it to you to make a judgement on the position taken.

First, Clariant has struggled in this market, and made a strategic mistake of relying entirely on the Chinese (or any other supplier were they to be available) for their raw materials.  They were then unable to raise prices to cover their escalating raw material costs.  The Chinese are now uniquely positioned to move upstream and market OBAs, more cost-effectively,  to the world.  The move by the Chinese government to abolish the VAT refund on Chemical exports and the squeeze on production from the 'Beijing Olympic Effect' has only hightened the weakness in the strategy - if you do not control your raw materials do not expect to control the market (see earlier blog).

Second, is there really a need to use so much OBA in papermaking?  As the industry strives to find sustainable solutions, is the move by North America (and perhaps Japan) to match the rediculously high whiteness levels found in Europe really necessary?  It is also questionable whether OBAs are, 'The most cost-effective means of raising the whiteness of paper,'  especially when one takes a cradle to cradle assessment.

Furthermore, just how white do we need our paper to be and just how many thousands of tons of OBA do we need to pour into our environment to get a few points more in whiteness?  In time, when 'cradle to cradle' approaches to product development (chemicals and paper) are more widely adopted, the whiteness folly will be exposed for what it is.  In 2006 Clariant boasted in an advert that it had sold over 1 million tonnes of OBA for papermaking - is this a sutainable soultion?

Keywords - OBA, FWA, Clariant, Environment, Sustainability, C2C, whiteness, papermaking, paper, pulp, chemicals.