Merck's Pigments & Cosmetics business unit raises prices

The Pigments & Cosmetics business unit of Merck will raise the prices for selected parts of its portfolio of effect pigments, cosmetic active ingredients and other functional materials effective January 1, 2014. Depending on the specific product group, the price may increase up to 10%.
 
Having implemented its last price increase around two years ago, Merck cites several reasons for this decision. First, increasing regulatory requirements are leading to higher production costs. Second, the business unit is boosting its application technology service for customers, especially with respect to functional materials. And third, prices are influenced by general cost drivers such as higher labour and raw material costs.
 
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The Pigments & Cosmetics business unit continues to focus on high-quality products and offers technical services that add value for customers. Inese Lowenstein, Head of the Pigments & Cosmetics business unit, explained, “We see ourselves as a long-term partner to our customers. We make investments in order to deeply understand our customer needs, provide outstanding technical application support and meet the highest quality requirements. For instance, our cosmetic pigments manufacturing already complies with EFfCI-GMP standards. Moreover, we are using a dedicated innovation management process to further develop our broad product portfolio, both through in-house research as well as alliances.”
 
Merck is one of the world’s leading suppliers of effect pigments for the coatings, plastics, printing, cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical industries.