TOKYO, March 26, 2018 — Ube Industries, Ltd. today announced that it will implement a price increase for diphenol products including catechol and hydroquinone in Japan, effective for shipments on or after April 1, 2018. The company will initiate negotiations with its customers regarding the price increase.
Catechol is used as a raw material for products such as fragrances, agrochemicals, and monomer polymerization inhibitors, and demand in all of these applications is flourishing. Hydroquinone is used as a polymerization inhibitor for methyl methacrylate (MMA) and acrylic acid, and is also used for photographic chemicals and agrochemicals. Most notably, demand for hydroquinone is growing for polymerization inhibitor applications.
Ongoing tight supply and demand of diphenol products around the world has led to rising prices in markets outside Japan. The decision to increase diphenol product prices was additionally necessitated by the need to ensure a stable supply to the Japanese market.
Products for Japanese market: Increase by 10%
For shipments on or after April 1, 2018
Ube Industries is the only Japanese manufacturer of catechol, with a total annual production capacity of 6,000 tonnes of diphenol products as a whole from its production base in Ube City in Yamaguchi Prefecture.