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CALL TO A C T I O N
STAVROPOULOS URGES REVIVAL Dow chairman prods the industry to channel resources to research ustomers aren't buying, industry employment is declining, and chemical stock prices are in the tank. But in a spirited speech last week at the Plaza Hotel in N e w a r k City Dow Chemical Chairman Wil liam S. Stavropoulos challenged the industry "to revitalize R&D, and in so doing, recapture the growth that has eluded us over the past few years." Following his receipt of the 2001 Chemical Industry Medal awarded by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Indus
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try, Stavropoulos told 380 busi ness leaders, 'We seem to have lost confidence in R&D as an en gine of growth." He acknowledged that many people believe the days are gone when the industry could make breakthrough products with huge revenue and profit potential. But he belittled that point of view, recalling a century-old story about a proposal to close the U.S. Patent Office because all the important inventions had already been made. Biotechnology, nanotechnol-
BUSINESS
INORGANIC ACTION IMC sells a business and Astaris closes one down in basic streamlining efforts
SUNSET Astaris' Pocatello, Idaho, phosphorus plant will close by year's end.
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IGH DEBT AND A PRODUC-
tion technology shift have spurred two inorganic chemicals firms to action. Fertilizer producer IMC Glo bal has signed a definitive agree ment to sell its salt and potas sium sulfate businesses to a unit of Apollo Management, a New "fork City-based private invest ment company that last Novem-
C & E N / OCTOBER 2 2 , 2001
ber acquired ShelTs epoxy resins business. IMC Salt is the world's third largest salt producer. Together, the salt and sulfate businesses had sales of $515 million in the 12 months endingJune 30 and pre tax earnings of $125 million. IMC will receive about $600 millionmoney it desperately needs for debt reduction—and will retain a minority equity position in the businesses. IMC continues to try to sell its IMC Chemicals business, which includes soda ash plants in Cali fornia and Australia and a sodium bicarbonate facility in Colorado. A spokesman says the plants are being offered separately and that the Australian unit could be sold by year's end.
ogy, and synthetic materials are areas where "we can bring better living though chemistry" he said. In using the last phrase, Stav ropoulos tipped his hat to DuPont's one-time well-known tag line and to DuPont's chairman, Charles O. Holliday Jr., who sat on the dais to Stavropoulos, right. The industry has to take advan tage of its own research capabili ties while also collaborating with academic researchers, he said. And he urged adoption of new technologies, such as combinato rial chemistry, to "dramatically speedup the synthesis, screening, and development of new poly mers, chemicals, and catalysts." Over the past 30 years, Stav ropoulos said, "our industry's emphasis was on using financial capital to penetrate world mar kets. Now we need to refocus some of our efforts and put more reliance on our knowledge capital."-MARC REISCH
Meanwhile, Astaris, the phos phorus chemicals joint venture of FMC and Solutia, will cease elemental phosphorus produc tion in Pocatello, Idaho, by the end of the year. In April, Astaris significantly cut output at the plant because of the high cost of electricity Jerry C. Sibley, Astaris' presi dent and CEO, says the shutdown will continue the company's move to lower-cost purified phosphoric acid (PPA) as its chief feedstock. Feed for products that are de pendent on elemental phospho rus, such as phosphorus trichlo ride, will come principally from a Monsanto plant in Soda Springs, Idaho, that will be the last of its kind in the U.S. Astaris has also signed an agree ment with Potash Corp. of Sas katchewan to receive a long-term supply of PPA. The deal will start early in 2003 following comple tion of an expansion at Potash's Aurora, N.C., facility Astaris re cently opened its own PPA plant inSodaSprings. -MICHAEL MCCOY Η TT Ρ : / / P U Β S. A C S . O R G / C E N
