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Companies are still researching how to develop computer chips using copper, after IBM announced in 1997 that it would explore copper usage.

Biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers are planning to expand their industrial capacity and install new equipment to boost product quality. Additional information on expansion and modernization of pharmaceutical factories is also included.

The care and treatment of Australian prostate cancer patients is discussed.

European antibiotics companies close plants and layoff workers in order to compensate for the continuing drop in prices.

Discusses the intention of Claudio Sonder, chairman and CEO of Celanese A.G. (Frankfurt, Germany), to to transform the former Hoechst unit. The article also includes a brief biography of Sonder.

Chemical companies that supply semiconductor makers with raw materials are feeling the pinch caused by the efforts of the semiconductor industry to cut production costs.

American inorganic chemical producers are feeling the pinch of competition from such Chilean producers as Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM). FMC Corp. has closed its lithium chemicals plant in Argentina in response to Chilean competition. Olin Corp. closed its synthetic sodium nitrate plant in the late 1980s as a result of Chilean competition, and the list goes on.

Specialty chemical company Rohm and Haas has completed two acquisitions. The traditionally conservative firm purchased LeaRonal Inc. and Morton International Inc. just six months after the new CEO and president were appointed. The company is expected to hold on to Morton's salt holdings, as the company is the largest producer in North America. Sales for Rohm and Haas are predicted to rise from $3.7 billion in 1998 to $6.5 billion in 1999 as a rsult of the acquisitions.

The commodity plastics industry is currently on a slump and may have to wait a little more time to recover. Polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene prices have continued to fall since January 1998 due to low demand. Industry observers, however, believe the lingering economic crisis in Asia and the ongoing consolidation among North American commodity plastics manufacturers provide a brighter outlook.

The ongoing pipeline contruction projects on the US Gulf Coast in Geismar, LA, and Baytown, TX, will move chlorine from chlor-alkali plants to isocyanate facilities, and then transfer by-product anhydrous hydrochloric acid from the isocyanate plants to plants that produce ethylene dichloride. Upon completion by the year 2000, the pipeline links are anticipated to aid in easing frequently unstable price and supply changes for HCl and reduce freight traffic in the Gulf region.

A number of chemical companies are going into different business agreements such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and spin-offs. Statistics show that agreements for the first half of 1998 overpassed that of the first half of 1997. Chemical firms opt to go into such transactions for reasons such as sector consolidation, global market outreach, product expansion and additional technology. Transactions that have been announced in 1998 include the EVC and Norsk Hydro merger, the acquisition of Hoechst's Trevira polyester branch by Koch Industries and the joint venture between Occidental Chemical and Equistar.

Contract manufacturers foresee enormous growth from the outsourcing of biotech drugs. Professional services firm Ernst & Young has even predicted that the worldwide sales of biotech pharmaceutical products will amount to $13 bil in 1998. Contract manufacturers, however, are losing to a handful of big biotech firms that generally make their own ingredients.

Breakthroughs in technology and pressure from investors are driving industrial chemicals makers established in organic chemistry to test production employing fermentation or enzyme catalysts. Roche reports it will establish a $75 mil fermentation plant in Grenzach, Germany, with B-2 production capacity equivalent to 3,000 metric tons annually. Lonza of Switzerland is integrating enzyme-based catalysis in the manufacture of niacinamide.

Leading producers of nutritional animal feed additives are adopting different strategies in their desire to handle the challenges of customer consolidation, globalization, and the industrialization of animal husbandry. Some producers expand their product range while some competitors prefer to specialize. For instance, BASF's acquisition of the lysine business indicates the company's entry into the amino acid sector of the feed-additive market. However, despite differing strategies, all producers are aware of the increasing global demand.

Anglicans in South Africa should respond to the call of Anglican bishop's 1988 Lambeth Conference for a more missionary thrust to church activity, to counter apartheid in the region. This can be done by following the 1987 CPSA Partners-in-Mission consultation initiative for unity in missionary work. Parish and Diocese Program, the Anglican Mission Institute and the RENEW approach are part of this response to the call for change., South Africa has long demanded (and got) the world's attention. It was a South African controversy that, in part, prompted the first gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world [...]

Cabot Microelectronics and Dow dominate the chemical mechanical planarization consumables market. This process is increasingly being used in the semiconductor industry and chemical companies need to create new materials as the process is used in new applications.

UK drug firms are cutting chemistry jobs but chemists may want to go into contract research organizations since the industry is adding jobs. The growth of contract research organizations in the UK is discussed.

Three small specialty chemical companies that are able to survive in the U.S. recession despite their bigger counterpart's move overseas are presented. The companies share a focus on technology niches and collaborations with clients.

The radiochemicals business is deemed to have maintained its lucrative status despite the exit of Sigma-Aldrich and General Electric in 2008. The remaining firms in the radiochemicals industry believe that their products would be helpful in tracking of pharmaceuticals and other substances as they pass through living things. Other plans of these firms are given.

In June, nations from around the world will meet in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to consider the future of the Earth's environment. Billed the Earth Summit, the participants are finding [...]

Five companies in Europe, Asia and the United States have built facilities for the production of succinic acid from agricultural feedstocks. Bioamber has built a demonstration plant in France. BASF has also started succinic acid production.

AgraQuest originally focused on serving organic farmers but they are now targeting the low chem approach where farmers reduce the chemical load on crops by synergistically combining tradtional pesticides and biopesticides. One analyst is bullish on the company but he says that the company's weakness is its limited lineup.

IBM and Intel are experimenting with hafnium oxide for more advanced chips for use in computers. The future role of chemical companies for manufacturing these chips is discussed.

Chemical industry officials are hassled over the reasons for the sudden steep spurt in the prices of sulphuric acid which is a vital component of the chemical industry.