It looks like round two in the global wrangle to disentangle Ticona (Sulzbach / Germany; www.ticona.com) and Polyplastics (Tokyo / Japan; www.polyplastics.com) – Ticona’s joint venture with majority shareholder Daicel (Tokyo; www.daicel.com) – has got underway. In a new press release, the German group announces that it will cease distributing all Polyplastics “Duracon” POM and “Duranex” PBT grades in the US effective 1 September.

Come 15 November the engineering polymers business of Celanese (Florence, Kentucky / USA; www.celanese.com) will also cease distributing the relevant grades in Europe. Ticona advised customers who want to continue receiving Duracon and Duranex to contact Polyplastics for further details. The group said the move would not affect its own portfolio, including its “Hostaform” and “Celcon” POM grades; “Celanex” PBT; “Fortron” PBS; “GUR” UHMW-PE; “Vetra” and “Zenite” LCP; “Thermx” PCT; “Celstran”, “Compel” and “Factor” LFRT; “Impet” PET; and “Vandar” PBT. Ticona said it would continue to produce and distribute this portfolio in the US, Germany and China.

Polyplastics had announced an independent global polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) distribution in June 2012, as part of which it would eliminate Ticona’s “Fortron” from its portfolio effective September 2012 – see Plasteurope.com of 26.06.2012. A few weeks earlier, Ticona had said it would start distributing all its own engineering thermoplastics aside from “Fortron” through its newly established office in Japan – see Plasteurope.com of 24.05.2012.