The Urethane Blog

Everchem Updates

VOLUME XXI

September 14, 2023

Everchem’s Closers Only Club

Everchem’s exclusive Closers Only Club is reserved for only the highest caliber brass-baller salesmen in the chemical industry. Watch the hype video and be introduced to the top of the league: — read more

March 3, 2020

Future Foam Announcement on New Facility Acquisitions

On March 2,2020, Future Foam acquired polyurethane foam pouring facilities in Tupelo
Mississippi, Kent, Washington, Elkhart, Indiana, and a foam fabrication facility in Kent,
Washington. This is a very exciting event at Future Foam, and we are thrilled to take
over the operations and begin serving these markets.

Future Foam is a family-owned company that has been making polyurethane foam since
1958. We pride ourselves on customer service, quality and innovation. We are a team
of innovators guided by a passion to continually develop customer-driven solutions. We
employ, manufacture and invest where our customers conduct their business. We attract
and retain the best in the industry by providing a great place to work. With the addition of
these 4 facilities, we have 30 facilities in the United States, 1 in Europe, and 1 in China.
Ow 2 Million+ square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space is powered by more
than 2,000 associates, with an average tenure of 10 years.

We have foam pouring, molding, fabrication. and converting operations that provide
solutions that range from providing raw materials, OEM components, finished goods
and fulfillment services to our customers.

Our polyurethane foam product offering includes visco-elastic memory, conventional
ether, engineered ether and ester, high resiliency, molded, rebonded, and specialty
comfort foams along with cushioning products for carpet and flooring.

We are one of the leading foam recyclers in the world. Our Industrial by-product recyling
volume used to make rebond foam offsets and is roughly equivalent to our consumption
of chemical raw materials used in our foam production.

March 3, 2020

Future Foam Announcement on New Facility Acquisitions

On March 2,2020, Future Foam acquired polyurethane foam pouring facilities in Tupelo
Mississippi, Kent, Washington, Elkhart, Indiana, and a foam fabrication facility in Kent,
Washington. This is a very exciting event at Future Foam, and we are thrilled to take
over the operations and begin serving these markets.

Future Foam is a family-owned company that has been making polyurethane foam since
1958. We pride ourselves on customer service, quality and innovation. We are a team
of innovators guided by a passion to continually develop customer-driven solutions. We
employ, manufacture and invest where our customers conduct their business. We attract
and retain the best in the industry by providing a great place to work. With the addition of
these 4 facilities, we have 30 facilities in the United States, 1 in Europe, and 1 in China.
Ow 2 Million+ square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space is powered by more
than 2,000 associates, with an average tenure of 10 years.

We have foam pouring, molding, fabrication. and converting operations that provide
solutions that range from providing raw materials, OEM components, finished goods
and fulfillment services to our customers.

Our polyurethane foam product offering includes visco-elastic memory, conventional
ether, engineered ether and ester, high resiliency, molded, rebonded, and specialty
comfort foams along with cushioning products for carpet and flooring.

We are one of the leading foam recyclers in the world. Our Industrial by-product recyling
volume used to make rebond foam offsets and is roughly equivalent to our consumption
of chemical raw materials used in our foam production.

March 2, 2020

BASF Increases Prices on BDO and Derivatives

BASF to increase price for diols and derivatives in North America

FLORHAM PARK, NJ, February 28, 2020 – Effective April 1, 2020 or as existing contracts permit, BASF Corporation’s Intermediate Division will increase prices in North America for 1,4-Butanediol (BDO) and derivatives.

Product                                                                      Price Increase

1,4- Butanediol (BDO)                                                $0.06 / lb

Tetrahydrofuran (THF)                                                 $0.08 / lb

N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)                                       $0.06 / lb

Polytetramethylene ether glycol (PolyTHF®)              $0.08 / lb

BDO and its derivatives are used for producing engineering plastics, polyurethanes, solvents and elastic spandex fibers.

https://www.basf.com/us/en/media/news-releases/2020/02/basf-to-increase-price-for-diols-and-derivatives-in-north-americ.html

March 2, 2020

BASF Increases Prices on BDO and Derivatives

BASF to increase price for diols and derivatives in North America

FLORHAM PARK, NJ, February 28, 2020 – Effective April 1, 2020 or as existing contracts permit, BASF Corporation’s Intermediate Division will increase prices in North America for 1,4-Butanediol (BDO) and derivatives.

Product                                                                      Price Increase

1,4- Butanediol (BDO)                                                $0.06 / lb

Tetrahydrofuran (THF)                                                 $0.08 / lb

N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)                                       $0.06 / lb

Polytetramethylene ether glycol (PolyTHF®)              $0.08 / lb

BDO and its derivatives are used for producing engineering plastics, polyurethanes, solvents and elastic spandex fibers.

https://www.basf.com/us/en/media/news-releases/2020/02/basf-to-increase-price-for-diols-and-derivatives-in-north-americ.html

March 2, 2020

More on Covestro and Coronavirus

Covestro Q1 earnings to suffer €60m hit from coronavirus – CFO

Author: Tom Brown

2020/02/19

Dusseldorf, GERMANY (ICIS)–The impact of production restrictions and logistics issues in China brought on by the coronavirus outbreak is likely to reduce Covestro’s first-quarter earnings by €60m, the CFO at the German polyurethanes (PU) and polycarbonates (PC) producer said on Wednesday.

According to Thomas Toepfer, “massive” restrictions on production facilities and the extension of the Lunar New Year holiday as a means of reducing contagion are likely to cut first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), with the impact likely to continue to be felt through much of the year.

“Production facilities in China were restricted massively,” said Toepfer, speaking to reporters in Dusseldorf after the company released its fourth-quarter financial results earlier on Wednesday.

“In March, [production] can return to normal but not everywhere,” the CFO added.

Covestro is assessing its supply chains for any potential weak links from the outbreak, according to CEO Markus Steilemann, in a bid to reduce the likelihood of any larger failure in its product flows.

Production and logistics in China, which was Covestro’s largest growth market in 2019, were substantially disrupted by the outbreak and the Chinese government’s measures to contain it.

Some production and transportation continue to be difficult, according to Covestro’s chief technology officer (CTO) Klaus Schafer.

“Shanghai has over 24m inhabitants and, over Chinese New Year, 15m people leave the city,” Schafer said.

“A reduced number of them came back and these people were quarantined, they stayed at home for the next two weeks before they could go back to work, which meant that things such as truck drivers… [and] logistic workers, were not available for the last few weeks and [are] only available to a limited extent today,” he added.

However, Schafer said that production across China is starting to ramp up.

Covestro has not made any forecasts for the impact that the ongoing crisis could have on its financial performance in the second or third quarters of 2020, Steilemann added.

The company is projecting first-quarter EBITDA of €200m-280m, meaning that even the top of the range would only be commensurate with the fourth quarter of 2019, which Steilemann described as an extremely challenging market.

Despite a 50% year-on-year fall in group company EBITDA in 2019 to €1.6bn, China generated the highest volume growth for Covestro, with sales outstripping those from its home German market by nearly €1bn.

Sales volumes rose 8.2% year on year as strong electronics, construction, wood processing and furniture end market demand counterbalanced automotive sector woes.

https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/02/19/10473013/covestro-q1-earnings-to-suffer-60m-hit-from-coronavirus-cfo