Univar warns of tight supply of its Dynapak® PIB materials

Rotterdam, The Netherlands – January 11, 2005 – Univar Europe, one of the world’s leading independent chemical distributors, has warned that supply of its Dynapak® Poly PIB (polyisobutylene) in Europe is expected to become restricted during 2005.

Originally launched in 2000, Dynapak Poly’s innovative molecular formation broke new ground in the PIB sector, but was slow to gain market acceptance. Since then, the product has been successfully adopted throughout the industrial market where it is used in a variety of applications including lubricants, adhesives, plastics and cosmetics. In 2004 Univar recorded a significant sales growth of Dynapak Poly.

The anticipated supply shortage at Univar is consistent with overall European supply and demand for PIB materials. During 2004, supply of PIB moved from over capacity towards an increasing shortage. This was caused in part by the closure of other PIB manufacturing facilities since 2001 which, combined with increasing demand in South East Asia, has led to the restricted supply situation now facing European PIB buyers in 2005. Furthermore, new European demand for complete synthetic compounds such as PIB, largely driven by new developments in lubricants, is also fuelling this shortage.

According to Dirk Rimaux, Marketing Support & Project Director for Univar Europe: “At Univar we have recognised the situation and we are working closely with our customers to offset the emerging gap in PIB materials supply and to address their availability concerns”.

Dynapak Poly offers high purity, predictable performance; narrow molecular weight distribution and very low levels of chlorides and water which ensure that end product properties and performance are maintained.

Univar produces its Dynapak materials near the port of Antwerp, providing a strategic hub location for the company to serve its customers optimally throughout Europe.

Dynapak® is a registered trade name of Univar N.V.

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