CW’ s cover story takes a look at Responsible Care, now 22 years old, and its continuing evolution (p.23). ACC and ICCA are taking steps to foster broader adoption of the program, and its standards, by expanding globally into the Mideast and Asia, and...
Recovery has the chemical sector quickly shedding inhibitions about M&A. BASF has sealed a deal to acquire Cognis for €3.1 billion ($3.8 billion). And Akzo Nobel reached an agreement to sell its National Starch (Bridgewater, NJ) unit to Corn Products...
It wasn’t just the altitude that was elevated at ACC’s annual meeting at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, CO. High spirits are not surprising given that most producers felt as if they were “being dangled off a cliff” at this...
Monsanto’s decision to reset commercial strategy for Roundup puts one of industry’s finest cash cows out to pasture ( p. 8). “The reality that Chinese glyphosate capacity is profoundly overbuilt” is forcing the company to price Roundup...
Chemical distributors have weathered the financial storm and emerged intact, as this week’s cover story shows ( p. 21). Early 2010 performance has improved, and distributors continued to generate stable profits and cash flow through the worst economic...
Recovery is also brightening deal prospects in the chemical sector. About $4.5 billion in deals were completed in first-quarter 2010, up from just $300 million at the trough of the financial crisis in first-quarter 2009, according to data from Young and...
“Spring is more enjoyable when it follows a long, hard winter,” BASF CEO Juergen Hambrecht told investors last week. And so it goes for chemical makers with a revival in earnings to cherish after a dreadful 2009 (p. 6, 13). One notable element of...
Lawmakers have taken the first steps in more than 30 years to revise the U.S. Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the process will put industry and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) together at the negotiating table, a rare enough occurrence. It is...
So Monsanto’s seeds and trait sales and earnings won’t grow to the sky forever. Monsanto has had an impressive run since its 2000 spin off from Pharmacia, with profits and its market capitalization up more than fivefold. The mid-2008 commodity and...
