Printed Circuit Design & Fab - July 2008 - (Page 8)

AROUND thE world BROMINE’S GREEN LIGhT CASh CRUNCh Ban Lifted on DecaBDE Flame Retardants STOCkHOLM, SWEDEN – With legal action pending by the EU, the Swedish government lifted its national ban of the flame retardant Deca-BDE used in textiles, furniture and some electronic cables. The Swedish government said that the ban was inconsistent with the latest findings of a 10-year EU risk assessment of Deca-BDE. The 10-year risk assessment failed to identify any significant risks to justify restrictions on the flame retardant. The limited ban that went into effect in late 2006 reportedly had no scientific basis, and was therefore subject to a legal challenge by EU authorities. “The EU has established that Deca-BDE is safe for continued use in all its applications, so there is no scientific basis whatsoever for any national or EU-wide restriction on Deca-BDE” said Veronique Steukers, chair of the European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel (EBFRIP). The “EBFRIP firmly believes that DecaBDE meets the criteria for an exemption from RoHS and that it should therefore either be exempted or deleted from the RoHS Directive. We are working with the European Commission to ensure that this restriction is lifted.” The Swedish Government’s press release can be found at: http://www.regeringen.se/ sb/d/10626/a/104665. Chemical Suppliers Increasing Prices THE uS AND EuROPE – The Huntsman Corp., Dow Chemical, Dupont and Rohm & Haas have all announced plans to increase prices or add surcharges, as much as 25%, because of increasing energy and raw-material costs. Huntsman joins the current trend in the chemical industry to pass on higher costs for energy and petroleum-based chemical ingredients to customers. Dow Chemical Co., the biggest U.S. chemical maker, said it would raise its prices as much as 20%, reportedly the highest in company history. Dow claims its costs for raw materials to make plastics, and cost for the natural gas that powers its factories has jumped 42% in the first quarter from the same period in 2007. These expenses may continue to rise into the current quarter, according to a report quoting Dow CEO Andrew Liveris. DuPont has also boosting prices, while Rohm & Haas Co has implemented surcharges on all products to recoup rising raw-material costs. In Europe, Ciba Holding AG, Lanxess AG and Clariant AG are among the chemical producers also increasing prices in response to rising costs. “We hope we have seen the worst of the energy and commodity price increases,” Huntsman CEO Peter Huntsman said in a statement. “The impact of large-scale speculation by traders on the price of energy, in addition to the increased costs we are absorbing from our raw-material suppliers and service providers, cannot be underestimated.” Global PCB Market Continues to Grow FRANkFuRT, gERMANY – Accord- ing to the ZVEI, the worldwide PCB market grew by 8.7% in 2007 (as compared to the previous year) to $51.5 billion. The organization states that for 2008, a global growth of over 8% is predicted. According to the organization, the largest revenue share in 2007, at about 73%, was reported for Japan and Southeast Asia (including China). Japan accounted for $9.5 billion (up 3.8%) and Southeast Asia for $28.1 billion of revenue. The largest increase was reported for Southeast Asia, which at $2.7 billion, was an increase of 10.6%. The report states that the American market grew by 3.3% to $6.3 billion. Also, according to the report, 2007 was the first year that Europe outpaced America. The market volume in Europe rose 14.3% to $6.4 billion, as compared to the U.S.’s previously stated $6.3 billion. The organization cited the high price levels for raw materials in 2007, and its affect on the industry, claiming that copper and crude oil prices were of greatest concern in countries such as China and India, given their high demand for raw materials, and that the rise in crude oil prices also raised the costs of paints, epoxy resins, films and resists. The ZVEI report states that while production volume in Europe in 2007 declined 8% year-over-year to 2.5 billion ($3.86 million) and the number of registered manufacturers declined by 7%, the European PCB industry as a whole employed about 24,000 at the end of 2007, which is unchanged from 2006. 8 printEd circuit dESign & fAB JULY 2008 http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10626/a/104665 http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10626/a/104665

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - July 2008

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.