Saflex: Rising Material Costs, Increased Demand Result in Price Increase

As a result, effective January 1, 2007, Saflex ®, a unit of Solutia Inc., will implement a price increase for PVB interlayers. To support its investments in new Saflex capacity, which will help meet customers' future needs and assure ongoing supply reliability, the company will implement a price increase of 8 percent for its full range of Saflex brand and other PVB products.



"The PVB interlayer market is continuing to exhibit strong growth, but pricing has not kept pace with the dramatic increase in costs of key raw materials such as polyvinyl alcohol and vinyl acetate monomer in recent years," said Luc De Temmerman, president of Saflex "This price increase is intended to support the continued investment in new capacity that will sustain this growth and meet the needs of our customers."



Saflex manufactures PVB interlayers at Ghent, Belgium; Puebla, Mexico; San Jose Dos Campos, Brazil; Springfield, Mass., USA; and Trenton, Mich., USA. It also operates a PVB finishing center, distribution center and regional customer service center in Singapore, and is constructing a new Saflex PVB interlayer plant scheduled to begin production in Suzhou, China, in mid 2007.



In addition to being the world's largest producer and seller of PVB interlayers, Saflex is the global leader in PVB innovation, quality and reliability. When laminated between layers of glass, PVB interlayers greatly enhance the performance characteristics of glass, providing benefits such as security, solar protection, sound attenuation, safety and style. Laminated glass made with Saflex interlayers is used in applications for automobiles and buildings.