Market leader Chemetall GmbH of Germany will increase its prices in insulating glass sealants significantly in the course of 2001.
According to Chemetall this step cannot be avoided for several reas…
Market leader Chemetall GmbH of Germany will increase its prices in insulating glass sealants significantly in the course of 2001. According to Chemetall this step cannot be avoided for several reasons: Ever higher technical requirements are being made on sealants and their manufacturers. Especially in Central Europe, architects and builders are demanding increasingly higher-quality insulating glass that meets several criteria. This not only increases the technical demands which the edge seal compounds must meet but also the technical backup in terms of consultation services and application development in order to ensure the compatibility of the components used. This indispensable technical competence is not being rewarded by industry today. “Here we have clearly over stepped the boundaries of commercial sense”, comments Gerrit Flling, head of the Chemetall Glass Division. The situation was aggravated by dramatic price hikes of all raw materials, and notably polymers and plasticisers, because of higher oil prices, among other factors. The coming price increases clearly heighten the risk that the gap will become wider between cheap and therefore potentially less well specified products and well specified products exhibiting the required consistent high quality, said Flling. However, Chemetall would continue to stay in the quality segment of sealants based on polysulfide. Flling said, “Because of its favourable processing characteristics which make it easier to get it right the first time, and the chemical compatibility with many other system components, we consider polysulfide to be the ideal sealant also in the future.”