European market to something like 550 M by 2010, well ahead of NAFTA and three times the forecast size of Japan. However, for the Wider Europe project to be hailed as a success, honest politicians need to do a much better job of reducing bureaucratic waste and convincing ordinary people of the very real advantages of being citizens of the European Union.
Reg Adams
MARKETS
TiO 2 price rises -uniformly in North America, not so elsewhere DuPont recently admitted that during 1Q 2004 there was only "partial implementation" of the North American price increases announced towards the end of 2003. The originally posted increases were $0.06 per pound for US customers and C$0.08 per pound for Canadian customers. In fact, the increments achieved were only about 50% of those originally posted. Then, in mid-February 2004, the company posted another set of price increases -$0.05 and C$0.06 per pound. (See 'Focus on Pigments ', Nov 2003, 3 & Apr 2004, 3). The latest set of increases were due to be fully implemented by the middle of June.
On 24 May, DuPont announced yet another round of price increasesthis time, $0.04 or C$0.06 per pound -due to take effect as from 15 June or as soon as permitted by contract terms.
DuPont is the clear market leader in the US TiO 2 pigment market and its announcements of increased prices have as usual been followed by similar moves on the part of other suppliers.
Pricing in other regions is not always so standardised. For markets in the Middle East, DuPont announced a $200 per tonne increase, effective 5 May 2004. Two days later, Millennium responded by announcing a $100 per tonne increase for its deliveries to customers in the Middle East and Africa, due to take effect as from 1 July. Towards the end of May, Kerr-McGee then posted a $150 per tonne increase for the Middle East and Africa, effective 1 June.
Millennium also posted a $150 per