Three plastics-related electronic-commerce firms have made recent moves to expand their services. Commerx Inc., the Chicago owner of the PlasticsNet.Com e-commerce site, now offers resins distributed by Channel Polymers, a division of H. Muehlstein & Co. of Norwalk, Conn.
Channel products offered online include polycarbonate, ABS and other engineering resins. Channel eventually hopes to have all of its product mix — including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon and various compounds — available through Plas ticsNet.Com, said David Skoczen, Channel general manager.
Channel's resin suppliers include Fina Oil and Chemical Co. of Dallas and DSM Engineering Plastics of Evansville, Ind.
Elsewhere, CheMatch.com of Houston added resins to chemical products available on its site. Fifteen commodity grades of PE, PP, PS and PVC are available in confidential, auction-based trading.
In San Francisco, ChemConnect Inc. announced it is now the preferred Internet portal to buy materials online for BASF AG, the Ludwigshafen, Germany, chemicals giant. BASF also is buying an undisclosed stake in ChemConnect.
"BASF is the world's largest purchaser of chemical raw materials," Wolfgang Morike, president of BASF's raw materials purchasing division, said in a news release. "In a very short time, we are going to buy a substantial portion of our raw materials through the virtual market of ChemConnect."