Cabot to increase EMEA rubber carbon black prices

Boston, Massachusetts – Cabot Corp. is increasing prices on all its carbon black products in its reinforcement materials segment sold in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as of 1 May, the company has announced.

Cabot, said its 13 April press release, continues to face “significant cost pressures and sourcing challenges for oil-derived feedstocks that are specifically selected for the production of carbon black in the EMEA region”.

The company added that it made every effort to optimise the procurement of such feedstocks, but the changing energy market conditions that began in 2015 had “intensified and remain unabated”.

Price adjustments, said Cabot, will be implemented between €60-90/tonnes, in addition to any applicable feedstock index-related adjustments, for carbon black products in Cabot's Reinforcement Materials segment.

"We continue to take actions to minimise the impact of feedstock costs, but it is necessary to appropriately adjust prices to help offset these market conditions," said Aled Rees, vice president and regional business director, EMEA region, Reinforcement Materials segment.

He added that there had been significant growth in the “transportation segment” and related applications in the automotive and industrial rubber markets that were driving increased demand for Cabot's rubber blacks produced in the EMEA region.

The announcement follows a decision by Orion Engineered Carbons SA to introduce a carbon black oil index surcharge for rubber carbon blacks sold into Europe, from 1 April.

Orion announced in March that the move was in response to continuing volatility in the energy markets.

At the time, Orion did not rule out introducing similar surharges outside of Europe if pressure continued on the carbon black oil markets.