Asian Metal meets Chemgrit Plastics (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa

On Monday the 11th of November 2013 Scott Yarham, Minor Metals Analyst for Asian Metal, met with Louis Van Gruunen and Athol Carter of Chemgrit Plastics at their Johannesburg Office in South Africa.

Chemgrit Plastics is a South Africa based company and was established in 2004. The company’s origins stem from an operating division of Chemgrit SA in 1998. Originally the company was predominantly focused on thermoplastics specializing in the supply and distribution of nylons and PBT material. The company has now grown into other market sectors to the point where they are also supplying to different compounding industries which includes the rubber, PVC and masterbatch industries.

This discussion focused around what demand in South Africa looked like at the present time and how their company has needed to adjust. The core issue highlighted by both Louis and Athol is the increasing use and availability of antimony trioxide replacements which has resulted in demand being halved from downstream users. Louis explained that the alternatives available in the market are approximately 40-50% cheaper than antimony trioxide. This is the main reason why the PVC compounders have changed. The products available are a 1:1 replacement constituting a massive saving for the compounders. The alternatives are available from the USA, India and China. It consists of a blend of ATO, ATH and other stabilizers to give the same result. Another plus regarding the alternative product is the SG value. The SG value of the alternatives is 3.6 on average and that of ATO 5.4. Louis mentioned that the current market usage of the flame retardant additives is approximately 20 - 30MT a month. This includes ATO and the alternatives. The ATO portion is about 40% of that at this present time.

There is still a market in South Africa for ATO but the volumes are a lot smaller. Louis and Athol were both in agreement that unless prices for ATO drop dramatically to levels that were seen a few years ago they cannot see the market returning the same levels of ATO consumption seen before.

Louis and Athol thanked Scott for introducing their company to other market players and initiating new relationships for them. They look forward to maintaining regular contact as they find the market news and insight beneficial. Louis said to Scott that they are looking forward to the International Antimony Conference in Spain next year and working even closer with Asian Metal in the future.