 "Astral Poly terminates CPVC supply pact with Lubrizol")
The Ahmedabad-based plastic pipes and fittings maker Astral Poly Technik, which recently entered into a tie up with Japan’s Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd for supply of chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) resin, has terminated its sourcing tie up and license agreements with Lubrizol for CPVC resin.
Astral said that the discontinuation will not affect the business of the company as it has already done backward integration and initiated compounding for Astral CPVC Pro for hot and cold plumbing solution at its Santej plant in Gujarat.
In India, the US-based Lubrizol Corporation, one of the leading manufacturers of the resin worldwide, licenses CPVC only to two companies - Astral and Ashirvad Pipes Pvt Ltd. With the termination of the deal, Astral Poly Technik Ltd will not be able to manufacture and sale of FlowGuard, BlazeMaster and Corzan branded CPVC pipes and fittings in the country.
“With termination of this partnership, starting from October 9, 2016, Astral will no longer have access to Lubrizol’s compound or manufacturing assistance, and will no longer be permitted to sell FlowGuard, BlazeMaster or Corzan branded pipes and fittings,” said Lubrizol Advanced Material in a press release.
At the start of this month, Astral Poly Technik Ltd announced its tie up with Japanese firm Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd to source chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) resin for hot and cold water plumbing system. This strategic tie up has enabled Astral to go for backward integration into developing its own CPVC compound. Through this tie up, Astral has launched its own brand Astral CPVC Pro for CPVC pipes and fittings for hot and cold water application.
The market for CPVC resins has been growing rapidly in India over the last few years with demand outstripping the supply. In fact, Lubrizol, to meet this surge in demand, opened a Rs 325-cr CPVC compounding plant in Dahej in January this year. After termination of license agreement with Astral, Lubrizol will continue to supply raw material to its other contracted partner in India, Ashirvad Pipes.