Chemical giants create e-hub

NEWS A consortium of international chemical firms is building an online marketplace to streamline the process of buying and selling of chemicals. The consortium, which includes BASF, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Mitsubishi Chemical and Rohm & Haas, will make an intial investment of $150m in the project, which is to be launched at the end of the year. The e-marketplace will let companies buy and sell chemical raw materials online. The site will also facilitate the logistical and financial aspects of online chemical exchanges. The as-yet unnamed company that will run the enterprise will receive its own board of directors and management team. The move comes despite the presence of a number of other e-marketplaces in the industry, including ChemConnect, e-Chemicals and Unipharma.net.