terials are large a n d hence» infrequent for most individual operations, plants probably have storage capacity for raw materials equal to a month's needs or more. Company managers w h o anticipated chances of a barge tie-up could have filled plant tanks with a last shipment, arranged just before negotiations deadlocked. And except in a few instances, industry observers say that most chemical plants could operate on a hand-to-mouth basis with rail a n d truck shipments of r a w materials. Petroleum products, too, stand to b e affected in varying degree. Gasoline, for example, is shipped from refineries along t h e Gulf Coast u p t h e Mississippi by common carrier, contract carrier, and company owned boats. Then, too, one refiner in t h e Southwest points out that product pipelines cover much of the area where barges normally travel. With other transportation open to petroleum products, no great difficulty is expected by oil companies. By the middle of last week, talks on new contracts had made little progress. But hopes were u p slightly on the basis of further talks set for t h e end of t h e week.
Amoco to Make Styrene Will produce high-îrnpact and conventional polystyrene; mum on monomer .ANOTHER
petroleum-based
company
is moving into t h e plastics industry. Amoco Chemicals, a subsidiary of Standard Oil ( I n d . ) , will break ground n.-»vf- month for plants at Joliet, 111., to iuaKc iiigtî-iiîipact and conventional polystyrene. Amoco has not revealed, however, whether or not it will also make styrene monomer. The new facilities will consist of two units—a product development plant and a large-scale commercial plant. Construction of both will begin simultaneously. T h e development plant, which will make a variety of polymers, is expected to b e on stream in the second quarter of 1960. T h e commercial plant is slated for operation in the third quarter of 1 9 6 1 . Once t h e commercial plant is running, t h e development unit will b e used for further product improvement. Amoco says it will use a process developed at the Standard Oil ( Ind. ) research labs in Whiting, Ind. Total expenditure for the polystyrene program is expected to b e several million dollars. 22
C&EN
JULY
2 0,
1959
• Industry Reaction. Polystyrene producers view Amoco's entry into the field with mixed emotions. O n e major company says t h e U . S . already has e n o u g h polystyrene capacity and that t h e entry of a new company will further increase t h e industry's marketing problems. With t h e field getting more competitive, this company is concerned a b o u t the possibility of further price drops. According to another producer, the polystyrene industry n o w has 10 to 15'/ more capacity than it needs. This excess, it says, may increase still further with the expected decline in foreign markets. A suhstantial amount of polystyrene now goes overseas, hut this d e m a n d will taper oft as more plants a r e built abroad. Another U . S. company is considerably less pessimistic. T h e gist of its c o m m e n t s : " T h e polystyrene business t o d a y is quite good, h i fact, most major producers a r e p u s h e d to keep up with demand. If business continues to h e good—and there is n o reason why it should not—Amoco should have little trouble selling its output." This comp a n y says that Amoco's move is actually no surprise t o t h e industry. Amoco has been talking privately about polystyrene for t h e past year. Demand for polystyrene has been climbing stenrlily. According to the U. S . Tariff Commission, sales rose from 457 million pounds in 1954 to 603 million pounds in 1956. Last y e a r s total: an estimated 6 9 5 million pounds. Of this, 64*^ went for molding and extrusion materials, 14% for protective coatings, a n d 22f/f for other uses.
Hope for Little FTA A n g i o - D a n i s h t a l k s may smooth way to non-ECM trade area A X G L O - D A N I S H talks in London have resulted in assurances to Denmark that her agricultural interests will h e safeguarded if she joins t h e proposed "Little Free T r a d e A r e a " of the "Outer Seven" European countries. Denmark has heen one of the major stumhling blocks to formation of this group of European countries which are n o t members of the European Common Market. The grouping of t h e seven countries was proposed after t h e breakdown several months ago of negotiations to form
a larger Free T r a d e Area of the 17 member nations of t h e Organization for European Economic Cooperation, including t h e six Common Market countries. Countries outside t h e Common Market h a v e h e e n alarmed a t t h e prospect of being cut off from C M markets as the C M is gradually built. T h e latest grouping is n o t aimed at competing with the CM b u t a t gaining some or the advantages of a larger market for the outsiders—or a t least for " T h e Seven": Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, and D e n m a r k . The Little F T A agreement would call for abolition of tariffs between members but, unlike t h e C M , would have no common external tariffs. T h e s e would be left t o the individual members. Denmark is in a b a d position because its chief exports, which are largely agricultural, go to Germany, which is in the C M , a n d to Great Britain, which is not. O n e Danish party wants to join the CM b u t t h e government in power is recommending that the Danes support the formation of a Little F T A at the meeting the seven countries are having in Stockholm starting July 20. The Anglo-Danish talks assured the Danes that if the Little F T A agreement goes through, the 10 cent duty on Danish bacon in t h e U.K. will b e eliminated b y 1 9 6 1 . Bacon is t h e most important Danish export to the U.K. The U.K. has to act carefully to keep horn hurting Commonwealth countries, such as X e w Zealand a n d Australia, which also sell their agricultural products in t h e U.K., a n d in turn b u y British industrial products. In fact this was one of the main reasons t h e U.K. did not join the C M . Pig farmers in Britain are u n h a p p y about t h e proposed new arrangements, as a r e the p a p e r makers. T h e latter—who d e p e n d on imported pulp—claim that t h e Scandinavian p a per companies will drive them out of business by unloading their products in the U.K. because they will be c u t off from t h e present markets in t h e C M . L u d w i g E r h a r d , t h e G e r m a n finance minister, seems to b e in favor of a large FTA, including t h e six C M countries, although he is not h a p p y about the Little F T A of t h e outsiders. German exports to the members of t h e Stockholm group a r e slightly greater than those to its partners in t h e C M . T h e French, however, are very much opposed to any relationship between t h e C M a n d t h e Little F T A which would give the type of free trade area the Germans a n d t h e outsiders would like.
