Consumables

LANXESS increases prices for acrylate chemicals

Friday 04. March 2011 - Specialty chemicals company LANXESS is to increase its prices worldwide for acrylic-acid-based leather chemicals effective March 1, 2011, in response to steeply rising raw material costs.

The price for acrylate binders is to be increased by at least 10 percent while polymer tanning materials will go up by 40 percent. “The price for propylene, the key raw material in the manufacture of acrylates, has increased by more than 30 percent in the past 12 months, while acrylic acids are now 55 percent more expensive. In the medium term there is no obvious cost relief on the raw material side,” said Bianca Verstegen, Global Product Management Finishing in the Leather business unit.
The need for acrylates has surged in the industry owing to increased global demand for coatings, water treatment chemicals and superabsorbent polymers.
In the leather sector, acrylate binders or polyacrylate emulsions are used, for example, in the manufacture of high-grade automotive leather.