At the most basic manufacturing level, the world’s producers require a solid base of material supplies with which to create their products. Insuring that there is a source of the material(s) needed to feed the manufacturing pipeline is the elemental requirement of a global manufacturing economy. With that need, and at that level, comes a steady and predictable set of companies ready to supply the need. They may not be fancy, or high fliers, but they can always be counted upon to deliver steady and reliable results.
CYTEC Industries Inc., a specialty chemicals and materials company, offers basic building block chemicals and value-added materials to end-use manufacturing companies. In many respects, the company offers first stage materials for the manufacture of just about any product that can be made. Its base of operations is in Patterson, NJ, but it operates on an integrated worldwide scale.
The company’s core businesses involve building block chemicals and engineered materials such as composites and nonwovens, but it finds its primary focus in specialty chemicals (Surface Specialties) such as resins, pressure-sensitive products, coatings, urethanes and additives. These products are found in mining, automotive, paper, construction and opto-electronics, to name just a few.
At the end of March 2008, the company – confronted with the rising cost of petroleum products (the primary raw material in a majority of the company’s products) – found it necessary to pass through a 5-10% price increase to individual markets. Generally, this price increase should be accepted and is likely to affect the company’s results only slightly, if at all.
The company is truly a global provider of chemicals and materials. As such, it is relatively insulated from market swings in individual markets around the world. In this respect, it is also well positioned to service all markets around the world. The company’s presence in China is significant, as is its presence in Europe – two markets that will likely drive the world’s markets well into the future. Whether the world’s markets are up or down only affects the degree of profit that the company earns. For the world to continue to produce, it needs its basic feed stocks, and Cytec Industries is there to provide them.
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