Effective October 16, 2017, Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd. (NSCL) increased selling prices for acrylic acid and acrylic esters by more than 10 yen per kilogram. The company had launched a price increase initiative for correcting profit deterioration in March this year, but it was not sufficient to cover overall increased costs. Therefore, NSCL has announced the price increase again.

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As Chinese manufacturers of acrylic acid and its esters are facing difficulty to raise the operation ratio of their plants that cannot meet the strengthened environmental and safety regulations, the global supply and demand balance of these products is tightening rapidly. These trends are expected to continue in the coming years and, therefore, we anticipate early correction of profit deterioration due to soaring raw material propylene prices, rising utility and distribution costs, etc., for the purpose of ensuring stable supply for the domestic market.

As for the superabsorbent polymer (SAP), which is a derivative product of acrylic acid, NSCL also announced a price hike of US$200 per metric ton on a global basis from July this year, but this price revision also turned out insufficient. NSCL will focus on achieving initial price revisions for SAP as well based on soaring prices of raw materials such as acrylic acid and caustic soda, and rises in other expenses such as distribution costs.

About Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.:

Since 1941, Nippon Shokubai has grown up its business with unique catalyst technology. Nippon Shokubai has supplied, for example, ethylene oxide, acrylic acid, automobile catalysts, process catalysts and so on. Among all, our global market share of superabsorbent polymer is the largest in the world now. Nippon Shokubai is a global chemical company operating under its corporate mission "Providing affluence and comfort to people and society with our unique technology."

http://www.shokubai.co.jp/en/