In the Press

India is set to be the first in the world to launch polymer futures by September this year. The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has set the the ball rolling in this direction. Pending energy futures, especially in the absence of hedging mechanism for crude oil, the polymer sector will be able to cover its price risk through the novel product.

Polymer futures will provide a platform for Rs 26,000-crore domestic industry dominated by Reliance Industries, IPCL, Haldia Petrochemicals and Gail India Ltd. Futures trading will also provide price risk hedging mechanism to 16,000 odd small scale units in the polymenr and plastic sector.

If launched in time, NCDEX will be the first commodity exchange in the world to launch futures trading in polymers that are also popularly called as 'plastic commodities futures'. London Metal Exchange (LME) has already announced its intention of introducing plastic commdities futures by December 2004.

NCDEX is currently designing the products to be offered for futures trading in polymers sector. Said NCDEX chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director PH Ravikumar said: "We are working on this concept and plan to launch the product by September-October this year."

NCDEX is likely to be ready with designing plastic commodities contract paper over the next two months. Details for plastic commodities contract, size and deliverable form/packaging etc will be finalised.

NCDEX will enter the league of leading international commodity exchanges offering novel derivative products used not just by the manufacturers, processors and traders but also by small-scale plastic processing units across the nation.

"During the last couple of months, we had tremendous inquiries from plastic processors about the availability of future instruments for hedging the risk against volatility in prices of polymers which are directly linked to international crude prices," said Mr Ravikumar.

Welcoming the move, All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA), spokesperson said: "In India, plastic futures, if made available would prove immensely beneficial, especially to the country's 16,000 small processing sector as a whole, which is highly dependent on international price trend and now able to hedge the risk against the price volatile."

Sajjid Mitha, CEO, polymerupdate.com, the only plastic portal of its kind in the international market and with over 5,000 subscribers based in India, said "Given the volatility in the global polymers prices, a new risk management device to be launched by the NCDEX will be beneficial." "Local players across the sector will be benefited not only against local price volatility but also, against international prices. Hence, NCDEX and LME future tools will have good potential in the market." Mr Mitha said and added that the new plastic commodities future products will prove to be a boon for the plastic industry in the days ahead."

Meanwhile, LME has proposed two plastics contracts for the initial launch. Polypropylene (PP) homopolymer general purpose injection moulding grade nominal melt flow rate 12 'barefoot' and Linear low density Polyethylene butene (LLDPE) copolymer general purpose film/blending grade, nominal melt flow rate 0.8, with slip and anti-block additives.

The major trading currency will be dollars. There are various plastic commodities available and traded in the market and traded in the among them PP, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PS, SAN, ABS, PVC, and PET.

But the demise of Omnexus, supported by some of the largest plastics suppliers in the world, doesn't appear to discourage other e-business startup

Hope springs eternal, at least in e-commerce. In early December, as materials platform Omnexus was closing its sales portal and selling off other components after less than four years in existence, officials of startups FairMoulds.net were exhibiting for the first time at the EuroMold exhibition in Frankfurt.

FairMoulds.net touts its platform as a low-cost means for mold makers and processors to sell new or used molds using the Internet to attract the buyers.

E-commerce is growing exponentially in some countries and markets but can any of the firms on the plastic side make money at it? At FairMoulds.net, selling firm pay € 100 to list a mold for six months; buyers pay nothing, and deals are closed offline so sellers can be assured they are not selling to their rivals. Survival on € 100 for each listing? "We'll make our money through the volume of sales," says Maksym Skvortsov, a native of Russia and the firm's sales manager for Eastern Europe.

Just more than 650 items were listed in early December. He says the firm sees huge demand for its service on the buy side in Easter Europe (especially Russia), India, and parts of Asia; and on the sell side in Germany and other highly developed markets. "Processors here (in Germany) usually make complicated parts and cannot continue using a mold with a flaw. But their old molds are of great interest in these other countries," he explains.

Omnexus' demise makes a pure material play on a global scale look unlikely, at least in the short term. Only the hottest of the consumer sites such as amazon.com have reported profits, and then only recently; so how could a site serving a complicated market such as plastics processing have a chance? In end-use markets, there are a number of e-commerce sites that match plastics packaging processors with their customers; www.webpackaging.com, for instance, used by many packaging processors and in service for seven years. In December that firm developed new online products catalogs with enhanced search facilities for packaging producer Rexam. But what works for packaging has not translated to other end-use markets.

Judging from the few independent e-outfits still focused on the plastics industry, the Internet as a means of sourcing materials, molds, and equipment seems to be most accepted by processors using smaller or more targeted outfits.

In th U.s. the longest-standing e-business for plastics is Polysort (Akron, OH). Formed in 1995 as an information exchange, it has transformed itself into a successful provider of hands-on sales and service, something only possible because all of the processors purchasing materials through its Private Resin Group Purchase program are located in eight states in north-central and northeast U.S. The program is open to processor in those states with at least $3 million in annual sales. For processors in Ohio, the site also has a group-purchasing program for electricity and natural gas.

Many users of the site, including processors and compounders, also unload unwanted materials via the site's spot exchange, www.polymersite.com.

E-sales growing, says ChemConnect At independent e-marketplace ChemConnect (Houston, TX), Tim Fetters, VP of Negotiation Solutions, says the site, continues to see growing use of its plastics trading platform. "The resins and polymer additives (sales and auctions) continue to grow at a steady pace. We've seen double-digit growth in packaging-related auctions since May," he says, without specifying from what base that growth is achieved. Users of the site can either run their own auction, or have ChemConnect run one for them.

Fetter says sell-side auctions of wide-spec commodity plastics and rubbers are most popular. He says auctions are split fairly between sellers and buyers. "In the aggregate, ChemConnect customers are still averaging 8% to 10% savings on direct materials," he says.

Selling materials or molds is not the only service processors are eager to have. Distributing current regional pricing information is a major part of earnings at sites such as Turkey's www.chemorbis.com and India's www.polymerupdate.com. The latter also serves as a marketplace for classified job advertising, and a news source.

Mirza Kadic, sales director at ChemOrbis, says pricing data plays an especially significant role among Turkey's processing community since almost all of the polymer consumed there (with the exception of that produced by Petkim, the lone Turkish supplier) is bought on the spot market. He says turkey is the second-largest spot market for plastics, following China.

"We have learned from the e-commerce systems in Europe, which were high spending high overheads and proceeded to go belly up," he says. The three-year-old firm updates pricing information twice daily.

Polymerupdate.com is in the midst of a five-year contract to provide Asian pricing data to Bloomberg, and has a contract for similar services with polymertrack. Others, including Dow Jones and Bridges, have approached the firm about acquiring data.

AKRON, Ohio, May 2, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Polysort LLC, a six-year-old Internet company that operates two business-to-business portals for the plastics industry, announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Polymerupdate.com (owned by Shalimar Infotech Pvt. Ltd.), India's first plastics industry web site. Beginning in late April, registered members of both sites will have access to Polysort's trading exchange, PolymerSite.com, for the purpose of buying and selling resin. This partnership transforms PolymerSite into a global marketplace, targeting India as the first geographic area of expansion.

The partnership brings together two of the world's most dynamic plastics resin markets, with total market opportunity in North America valued at $68 billion and India at a total market value of more than $4 billion. The agreement also brings into play six other countries in the region: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

Both web sites ( www.polysort.com and www.polymerupdate.com ) bring sizable memberships to the partnership as well, with a combined total of more than 13,500 registered users.

"As we considered expansion into the global marketplace, India presented an appealing opportunity from the standpoint of economic opportunity," said Angela Charles, Polysort's managing director. "India is considered to be one of the fastest growing plastics markets in the world today, and the presence already achieved by Polymerupdate was an impressive and solid foundation to build upon."

In turn, Polymerupdate.com had been seeking an existing technology for resin trading that most closely mirrors the manner in which transactions already take place. According to Sajjid Mitha, Polymerupdate.com CEO and director, PolymerSite provided an excellent fit. "In India, issues such as ease-of-use and security are critical when getting involved in online transactions, and PolymerSite offers both."

In addition to sharing technology for online resin transactions, Polysort and Polymerupdate.com plan to share process innovations that enhance trading volume. "Here at Polysort, we've seen steady increases in transactions in the past several months," said Charles. "We attribute this to our process of facilitation, where staffers personally contact members regarding postings that may be of interest. This personal touch has really helped alleviate barriers to doing business online, and opened our members' minds to the opportunities instead." Anticipating that the relationship side of the sales process will be critical in India as well, Polymerupdate plans to add a facilitation staff immediately.

Polysort's member offerings grow

In other business development news, Polysort has formed strategic partnerships with two well-respected financial service companies to enhance its offering of member services:

GE Capital Financial Services. Polysort has teamed up with GE Capital to offer site visitors easy access to information on financial services. Through these services, Polysort visitors can gain easy access to information about capital loans while they're considering purchases of machinery or materials.

Pitney Bowes. A partnership has been forged with Pitney Bowes Capital Services allowing members to purchase escrow services to guarantee the security of resin transactions conducted on PolymerSite.com.

Polysort, founded in 1995, is a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) that works on behalf of both buyers and sellers to create group efficiencies for transactions made in the plastics industry. The company's member services include a full complement of online trading tools, industry news and information, networking opportunities, and web marketing programs to help businesses generate qualified sales leads. For more information, contact Polysort at (800) 326-8666 or visit www.polysort.com .

AKRON, Ohio, May 2, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Polysort LLC, a six-year-old Internet company that operates two business-to-business portals for the plastics industry, announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Polymerupdate.com (owned by Shalimar Infotech Pvt. Ltd.), India's first plastics industry web site. Beginning in late April, registered members of both sites will have access to Polysort's trading exchange, PolymerSite.com, for the purpose of buying and selling resin. This partnership transforms PolymerSite into a global marketplace, targeting India as the first geographic area of expansion.

The partnership brings together two of the world's most dynamic plastics resin markets, with total market opportunity in North America valued at $68 billion and India at a total market value of more than $4 billion. The agreement also brings into play six other countries in the region: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

Both web sites ( www.polysort.com and www.polymerupdate.com ) bring sizable memberships to the partnership as well, with a combined total of more than 13,500 registered users.

"As we considered expansion into the global marketplace, India presented an appealing opportunity from the standpoint of economic opportunity," said Angela Charles, Polysort's managing director. "India is considered to be one of the fastest growing plastics markets in the world today, and the presence already achieved by Polymerupdate was an impressive and solid foundation to build upon."

In turn, Polymerupdate.com had been seeking an existing technology for resin trading that most closely mirrors the manner in which transactions already take place. According to Sajjid Mitha, Polymerupdate.com CEO and director, PolymerSite provided an excellent fit. "In India, issues such as ease-of-use and security are critical when getting involved in online transactions, and PolymerSite offers both."

In addition to sharing technology for online resin transactions, Polysort and Polymerupdate.com plan to share process innovations that enhance trading volume. "Here at Polysort, we've seen steady increases in transactions in the past several months," said Charles. "We attribute this to our process of facilitation, where staffers personally contact members regarding postings that may be of interest. This personal touch has really helped alleviate barriers to doing business online, and opened our members' minds to the opportunities instead." Anticipating that the relationship side of the sales process will be critical in India as well, Polymerupdate plans to add a facilitation staff immediately.

Polysort's member offerings grow

In other business development news, Polysort has formed strategic partnerships with two well-respected financial service companies to enhance its offering of member services:

GE Capital Financial Services. Polysort has teamed up with GE Capital to offer site visitors easy access to information on financial services. Through these services, Polysort visitors can gain easy access to information about capital loans while they're considering purchases of machinery or materials.

Pitney Bowes. A partnership has been forged with Pitney Bowes Capital Services allowing members to purchase escrow services to guarantee the security of resin transactions conducted on PolymerSite.com.

Polysort, founded in 1995, is a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) that works on behalf of both buyers and sellers to create group efficiencies for transactions made in the plastics industry. The company's member services include a full complement of online trading tools, industry news and information, networking opportunities, and web marketing programs to help businesses generate qualified sales leads. For more information, contact Polysort at (800) 326-8666 or visit www.polysort.com .

Processors purchasing materials over the Internet are realizing many benefits, including access to a wealth of technical information and processing guidance, plus extensive product-design assistance. Now, word of the keenly awaited Internet benefit is leaking out: Processors are getting more bang for their bucks on the web.

Buyers at Miele, Gutersloh, Germany. a household-appliance manufacturer with captive molding operations, are sold on e-commerce. Wilfried Rott, who ran pilot e-purchasing efforts for the firm over the ClickPlastics.de auction site, says that bids, including some from new suppliers, pointed to substantial savings on materials.

Electronic purchasing does not guarantee immediate savings, however. Molder Technimark's maiden Web purchase was also the first order placed at resin dot-com Omnexus. Brad Wellington, Technimark marketing manager, says that while the material (PS, supplied by Dow) was not bought at a discount, he remains an e-purchasing fan. "It's a trend we see continuing," he says. "We wouldn't do it if we didn't think we'd eventually save money."

It is not surprising that Technimark paid the going rate; Omnexus, which links processors to material suppliers, is not a discounter. Nor is it alone in seeking to exploit Web technology without caving in to the Web's fire-sale mentality. Fred Buehler, vp. of e-business at Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, TN, says processors benefit from increased access to information when purchasing through Eastman.com but should not expect lower prices. "I'm not sure lower prices will be a sustainable position."

Eastman sells material over its own Web site as well as occasionally using third-party auction sites. Independent cyber-auctions are ideal for Web-savvy processors looking for deep discounts And processors are using these sites at a rapidly increasing rate; CheMatch, Polysort, and ChemConnect all recently posted their highest monthly sales volumes to date.

Odd lots, supply/demand inequities, and other exceptional circumstances leave suppliers with excess material that they try to move at auction. While technical details on the materials are provided, sellers usually leave out brand names.

According to Linda Stegeman, senior vp. of marketing at ChemConnect, Processors searching for Internet bargains need to change their materials-purchasing mindset. Off-line purchasing involves calling different suppliers for a specified amount and type of plastic, weighing the offers, and then ordering the material from one of the suppliers. On-line, processors should expect to split orders among various potential suppliers.

For example, an Internet-posted request for 100 tonnes of LDPE will likely bring offers from potential suppliers. But by dividing this 100-tonne block into requests for a number of smaller amounts, processors open themselves to offers from suppliers and even other processors with odd-lot quantities to unload. This, she says, is where processors can benefit from pricing advantages.

Another approach is employed at Polysort.com and India's Polymerupdate.com. These sites aggregate processor orders for standard materials, which can lead suppliers to offer discounts for the larger orders. Both firms actively encourage e-purchasing by telephoning service subscribers when potentially interesting buy or sell offers appear.

Dow Chemical's Web site, www.e-epoxy.com, which sells epoxies and related materials, cuts prices by selling material in only half or full truckloads and requiring fixed payment terms with penalties for late payments, order changes, and cancellations. Ian Telford, site director, says Dow is the sole owner of the site and no competing materials will be offered; however, complementary materials to Dow epoxies from other suppliers will be listed.

Polymerupdate.com a B2B plastics-related site, has tied up with Telivoice, to offer its price and news feeds via the telephone. Plans are also afoot to introduce "voice commerce" through this medium. Telivoice is the brand name for a service offered by the US based Navin Inc, a company founded by Vishwas Godbole. Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail fame is co-chairman of the company.

Given the volatility in resin pricing, it is vital for producers, processors and traders to get price and news updates as it helps streamline inventory management, raw material purchases etc. "At the cost of a local call, one can access the latest news/price updates through any touch tone phone in India and across select overseas locations." NavinMail's services are available the US, UK, Australia and Philippines, among others.

The site's proposed voice commerce service will entail a one-time registration fee of Rs 160, plus Rs 360 per annum. Besides, a Re 1 per minute fee is payable to telivoice, with an average call lasting for three minutes.

Polymerupdate says that if the call helps you save Re 1 /kg on an average consumption of two-five mt/month, it results in direct monthly savings of 2000-Rs 5000.

This service also facilitates demand aggregation where if a buyer pool is incomplete and a customer wishes to complete the pool, this can be done over the phone after conducting a credit check. Polymerupdate charges both buyers and sellers a minimal fee under the demand aggregation model given that both parties benefit from price discounts.

Polymerupdate's trading platform has been developed by polysort LLC of the US.

Once a deal is sealed online, the transaction is taken offline. Polymerupdate.com gets paid a listing fee (listing the product the seller wishes to sell) and an access fee (access listings made by buyers), both chargeable to the supplier.

Polymerupdate.com, which is backed by Polyset and Bright Brothers, assists customers in reading market trends, follows price movements on a real time basis, besides facilitating trading and effective inventory management.

POLYMERUPDATE.COM was India's first plastics related site launched in November 1999. With over a half a million page views in 2001 itself, a new look site will soon be launched with an active trading platform.

Polymerupdate.com has over 8,500 registered users and the number is fast growing. The site provides real-time news feeds. Further, due to the limited penetration of the Net in India, it will on public demand, now take its news and price feeds out to the industry through the widest network available in India - telephone lines.

The site offers a dial-an-update service - a unique, first of its kind in the world service, for which the initial response has been overwhelming.

So how did the ideation for the site happen? The extreme volatility in resin pricing made it imperative for resin producers, processors and traders to stay informed. This helps in streamlining inventory management, purchasing raw material at the right price and keeping in touch with market happenings - all leading to an immense cost saving.

The Polymerupdate team has tied up with Telivoice (formerly Navinmail) with which one can, at the cost of a local call, access the latest news and price updates provided exclusively by Polymerupdate, through any touch tone telephone across the country and also across select overseas locations, helping one stay informed. Further, voice commerce will soon be introduced through this unique medium, all for a very affordable fee.

An industry site, like Polymerupdate is not a destination in itself, but more of a facilitator. This is because Net transactions require some getting used to, particularly in India. Security is a primary concern for most users.

Polymerupdate provides a one-stop-shop that assists customer read market trends, follow price movements on a real-time-basis, predict future price trends, manage inventory, track what the competitors are doing, and above all, help the customer trade without having to suffer the inefficiencies associated with the traditional method of placing an order.

Further, their platform helps the processor post his inquiry in a seal bid fashion. Depending on his price and product requirement, he may get offers from several individuals (manufacturers, traders, distributors or even other processors who have excess stock). When a match is made (the hand-shake) on their trading platform, the transaction is taken offline. They get paid through what they call a listing fee (list of products to sell) and an access fee (access the listings made by the buyers), both charged to the supplier.

Another model at Polymerupdate is the demand aggregation model. Since the market in India is highly fragmented, they aggregate demand and create buyer pools. Small buyers club their inquiries to form a larger pool which is then opened to manufacturers/traders/distributors and so on. A bidding process starts whereby the pool quantity, regarded as one, gets a price benefit. This is done region-wise to overcome the logistics problem.

Since theirs is an industry backed site, the model has been developed in-house working very closely with processors, traders and distributors alike. Credibility is built into the system to help the investors, who are some of the country's leading processors, to post their inquiries.

Polymerupdate touched over 7,50,000 page views last month and will soon see a steady inflow of revenue. As their monthly costs are minimal, they seem set to survive the ongoing Internet space badgering, quite comfortably. Or so is evident, from their strong brand equity and growing popularity.

POLYMERUPDATE.COM. a B2B plastics-related site, has tied up with Telivoice, to offer its price and news feeds via the telephone. Plans are also afoot to introduce "voice commerce" through this medium. Telivoice is the brand name for a service offered by the US based Navin Inc, a company founded by Vishwas Godbole. Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail fame is co-chairman of the company.

Given the volatility in resin pricing, it is vital for producers, processors and traders to get price and news updates as it helps streamline inventory management, raw material purchases etc. "At the cost of a local call, one can access the latest news/price updates through any touch tone phone in India and across select overseas locations." NavinMail's services are available the US, UK, Australia and Philippines, among others.

The site's proposed voice commerce service will entail a one-time registration fee of Rs 160, plus Rs 360 per annum. Besides, a Re 1 per minute fee is payable to telivoice, with an average call lasting for three minutes.

Polymerupdate says that if the call helps you save Re 1 /kg on an average consumption of two-five mt/month, it results in direct monthly savings of 2000-Rs 5000.

This service also facilitates demand aggregation where if a buyer pool is incomplete and a customer wishes to complete the pool, this can be done over the phone after conducting a credit check. Polymerupdate charges both buyers and sellers a minimal fee under the demand aggregation model given that both parties benefit from price discounts.

Polymerupdate's trading platform has been developed by polysort LLC of the US.

Once a deal is sealed online, the transaction is taken offline. Polymerupdate.com gets paid a listing fee (listing the product the seller wishes to sell) and an access fee (access listings made by buyers), both chargeable to the supplier.

Polymerupdate.com, which is backed by Polyset and Bright Brothers, assists customers in reading market trends, follows price movements on a real time basis, besides facilitating trading and effective inventory management.

Since its inception in November of 1999. polymerupdate has seen its customer base grow at an encouraging rate. Feedback from our various visitors from a cross section of our industry including resin producers, resin processors, resin distributors, indentors, traders and machine manufacturers has shown an increasing request for an easier access to our ever popular news and price service.

These included easier access through fax messages, e-mails and in some rare cases even snail mail. Inundated with daily telephone calls from individuals from both within the country and outside seeking advise on resin purchases and pricing strategies, the polymerupdate team hit upon a novel idea to reach out more easily to all in the plastics fraternity at a minimal cost.

Introducing the Dial An UpDate
"DAUD"( meaning run in Hindi) service. the world's first polymer news and price provider through the telephone. Easily accessible from any touch tone phone across the world, this revolutionary service promises to change the face of information transfer and access globally.

In order to enjoy the "DAUD" facility you need to register as a member of this service.

B2B, e-commerce, e-marketplaces, e-hubs, industry portals, virtual sourcing, net offices, are you victimized each morning when you pick up your newspaper or business magazine and find an average of 3-4 articles staring you in the face screaming the above new generation buzz words? Well, join the club of a majority of businessmen in India who are reluctant to ride the e-revolution, simply because they are not convinced it will work. Try telling GE plastics that. Since the launch of www.gepolymerland.corn, a G.E. Plastics distribution subsidiary, in mid 1997, the website has generated worldwide sales of almost 46 crores (10 million USD) a week, by April 2000. All the excitement and hype surrounding B2B e-commerce and the endless benefits it offers those who are forward thinking enough to play in the 'new economy' playing field in the petrochemicals industry, are reportedly justified as according to IT consultancy firm Forrester research, www.forrester.com, petrochemicals is fast emerging as one of the leading users of e-commerce trailing only the computer and electronics sector and the motor vehicles sector. Forrester research predicts that on-line trading in petrochemicals will hit Rs. 13,800 crores (USD 300 billion) in 2004 a number we cannot and should not ignore. A common maxim which is on the tongue of every young new economy entrepreneur today is, "if you snooze.....you lose."

Polymerupdate.com, India's first website dedicated to the plastics industry was launched on the 9th of November 1999, an auspicious day according to the Hindu calendar. Essentially a content based web site at the time, the site was providing free news feeds and price updates along with other value added services to the industry. Based on the feedback received from registered users and casual visitors, polymerupdate.com realised as a community site around which a critical mass of market participants had already been built.

Several visitors accessing the site daily for market intelligence from news feeds and price updates began to ask for additional services which would help them save time and costs and simplify their business thereby enabling them to concentrate on other pressing issues. Nurtured by the industry from a fledgling stage and considering today's transparent environment polymerupdate.com has matured into an industry portal where at a click of a button a visitor can:
Gather critical market information to help him plan his purchases be it resins or machines, prime or secondary.
Assist him in his raw material inventory management.
Aid him if he faces difficulties while processing.
Build him a storefront, which can be accessed by potential buyers across the globe.
Allow him to monitor what his competitors are doing.
Book container space at special rates for exports.
Educate himself with a host of industry expertise helping him enhance his knowledge in his chosen field within the industry.

and many many more features like answering frequently asked industry questions like existing duty structures, country wise exports, imports, etc. etc. All this and more on a single, easy to use platform, www.polymerupdate.com, now synonymous with the on-line plastics community in India.

Polymerupdate.com having attracted an investment from key processors in the Indian plastics industry Bright Brothers (15%), and Polyset Plastics (10%) and with the initiatives of its overseas alliance partner, U.S.A.'s renowned Polysort LLC (20%) is now ready to launch a powerful yet easy to use trading platform, developed by Polysort LLC, which will feature an anonymous, sealed bid format allowing industry buyers and sellers the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day in an efficient, timesaving system.

Negotiations between buyers and sellers on the platform will be anonymous until both parties accept the terms and if they choose, companies even have the ability to exclude specific companies from a list of potential participants. The platform also features a highly interactive tool that informs the buyers by e-mail when materials they need are available and informs sellers by e-mail when buyers have posted requests for materials they can supply. However, the key to the success of the platform and the immense benefits it offers will be realised only once sufficient awareness and acceptability is created. Owing to its neutrality and commitment to the industry and gaining strength from the domain expertise it possesses, polymerupdate.com is now set to emerge as the market leader in this given space riding on the number of firsts it has to its credit and the tremendous brand equity it has managed to create and sustain over a period of time."

John Braver, National Sales & Business Development Director, Polysort LLC and Sajjid Mitha, CEO, Polymerupdate.com sign partnership agreement.

Polymerupdate.com, India's first website dedicated to the plastics industry was launched on the 9th of November 1999, an auspicious day according to the Hindu calendar. Essentially a content based web site at the time, the site was providing free news feeds and price updates along with other value added services to the industry. Based on the feedback received from registered users and casual visitors, polymerupdate.com realized its potential to become a market maker in the plastics industry from its existing position as a community site around which a critical mass of market participants had already been built. Several visitors accessing the site daily for market intelligence from news feeds and price updates began to ask for additional services which would help them save time and costs and simplify their business thereby enabling them to concentrate on other pressing issues. Nurtured by the industry from a fledgling stage and considering today's transparent environment polymerupdate.com has matured into an industry portal where at a click of a button a visitor can gather : Critical market information to help him plan his purchases be it resins or machines, prime or secondary.

'Plastics market has great potential' says John Braver, National sales director, www.polysort.com Mid-day, MUMBAI, 13 September 2000

Assist him in his raw material inventory management. Aid him if he faces difficulties while processing. Build him a storefront which can be accessed by potential buyers across the globe. Allow him to monitor what his competitors are doing. Book container space at special rates for exports. Educate himself with a host of industry expertise helping him enhance his knowledge in his chosen field within the industry.
And many many more features like answering frequently asked industry questions like existing duty structures, country wise exports, imports, etc etc. All this and more on a single, easy to use platform, www.polymerupdate.com, now synonymous with the on-line plastics community in India. Polymerupdate.com having attracted an investment from key processors in the Indian plastics industry Bright Brothers (15%), and Polyset Plastics (10%) and with the initiatives of its overseas alliance partner , U.S.A's renowned Polysort LLC (20%) is now ready to launch a powerful yet easy to use trading platform, developed by Polysort LLC, which will feature an anonymous, sealed bid format allowing industry buyers and sellers the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day in an efficient, timesaving system. Negotiations between buyers and sellers on the platform will be anonymous until both parties accept the terms and if they choose, companies even have the ability to exclude specific companies from a list of potential participants. The platform also features a highly interactive tool that informs the buyers by e-mail when materials they need are available and informs sellers by e-mail when buyers have posted requests for materials they can supply. However, the key to the success of the platform and the immense benefits it offers will be realized only once sufficient awareness and acceptability is created. Owing to its neutrality and commitment to the industry and gaining strength from the domain expertise it possesses, polymerudpate.com is now set to emerge as the market leader in this given space riding on the number of firsts it has to its credit and the tremendous brand equity it has managed to create and sustain over a period of time.


Could you share with us why you decided to enter the Indian market and how Polymerupdate.com fit strategically ?
In the United States, Polysort has considerable experience in providing an Internet marketplace for the plastic and rubber industries Further our site is accessed by a wide range of professionals such as engineers and marketing professionals, amongst others, from the plastics industry in the US as other parts of the world.
We believe the Indian plastics market has considerable growth potential over the next few years. It is expected to grow from the current usage level of three per Kg. to levels comparable with those of countries like China, where it is much higher. Hence when we were looking for a partner in the Indian market we found the business philosophy and operating practices of Polymerupdate.com, lead by Sajjid Mitha, to be convergent with ours. As a commitment to that end, we have taken a 20 percent equity stake in Polymerupdate.com.


The domestic plastics market is characterised by a large number of small scale processors. How would your site be able to offer value-added services to them ?
We recognise this characteristic of the Indian market when working with our partner to develop appropriate business solutions. We would be offering these small processors an opportunity to get better prices by pooling their produce.
Through the website of our Indian partner Polymerupdate.com, the large petrochemical users would have to bid online for their requirements as against the earlier practice of buying them directly from an individual producer.


Amongst users of business to business sites, there exists a certain fear of paying online. How would you overcome this problem ?
We have experienced a similar problem in the United States and as a result, the payments are made offline. Our Indian partners, I understand, would also be following a similar practice.


Could you throw some light on your future plans in the country ?
We are very optimistic that our venture with Polymerupdate.com, which also has equity participation from leading members from the trade here like Brite Brothers and Polyset Plastics, would make significant inroads in the Indian plastics industry. We are actively pursuing the opportunity of extending the scope of our site to neighbouring countries.
Further, through frequent interaction with our partner we believe that we can learn from each other's experiences when developing future business strategies.

POLYMERUPDATE.COM, a web site on the plastics industry has received fund inflow from Polyset Plastics, an established plastics processor. The company has made a strategic investment in the plastics portal, which has already attracted investment from other big players like Brite Brothers.

Explaining the move to invest, Bhupesh Bafna, director of Polyset said, " It is important for plastics processors to rally around a site that will promote and protect the industry's interests. Polymerupdate.com has the right ingredients, vision and management team to do so."

"This is also in line with the international trend where industry players invest and support sector specific portals. More plastics sites inthe USA have such participation rather than just from venture capitalists," he added.

He also believes that if the site is supported from within the industry, it has a greater chance of succeeding, as its domain expertise and commitment to trading online could also be leveraged.

Polymerupdate.com has off late tied up with Indiaport.com, a shipping portal, thereby enabling its users to access to the latter's shipping services like container tracking and cargo booking.

This apart, it has tied up with Rapra Technology, a leading European plastics and rubber consultancy for an instant link to its site.

Other tie-ups include Modern Plastics, USA for enrolling subscribers for its magazines, Kotak Mahindra's Matrix Information Services and ShareKhan.com, which provides live stock quotes, tickers and investment-related information.

In the future, polymerupdate.com plans to introduce e-commerce and real-time trading from polysort.com, the world's largest B2B plastics portal launched five years ago. Many of the companies were impressed with India's potential for e-commerce, according to Sajjid Mitha, CEO of the company.

The portal has about 6,000 registered traders, indentors, plastics processors and manufacturers. It has had over 39, 400 visitors over the past few months.

INDIA'S first web site on the polymer industry, www.polymerupdate.com, had earlier divested 15 percent of its holdings to Bright Brothers. Now with a strong management in place and another investment in the company by Polyset Plastics, it has forged many alliances within the country.

It will further dilute a stake to a US based company.

According to reports the Brite Group has picked up a 15 per cent stake in polymerupdate.com, a polymer website, for an undisclosed amount. The site, originally launched for polymer traders and plastic processors with news, research and information on the industry, is now entering the electronic commerce space by creating a market place to allow online trading of plastic resins and compounds.

Even as chemical industry players are engaged in e-fight to grab maximum attention and possibly more, if not maximum, moolah, from the e-participants, polymer traders are not far behind.

A group of some four traders in Mumbai joined hands to launch, though silently, `polymerupdate.com', claiming to be a one stop polymer industry's information shop'.

Sajjid Mitha, CEO, Far East Trading Co., Bright Brothers vice-chairman and managing director Suresh Bhojwani, Indian Plastics Institute former chairman Arshad Khan and consulting plastic technologist Amir Ladhaboy have joined hands to launch the polymer business portal.

The launch of polymerupdate.com at a time when petrochem majors are preparing themselves to have their own websites and plans to launch petroproducts B2B portals are also said to be afoot.

Originally launched in November last, the polymerupdate.com is said to be targeting an entry into the electronic commerce by creating a marketplace which will allow online trading of plastic resins and compounds.

Polymerupdate.com expects resin manufacturers, distributors, brokers, compounders and processors to use the e-marketplace.