About the ExchangeChemical Industry Leaders Unite at ChemConnect's E-Commerce Roundtable
Executives from around the world gather to discuss strategies, trends and opportunities of e-commerce; highlights include panel discussions on purchasing strategies via online auctions and Lehman Brothers' industry forecast
San Francisco, February 26, 2001 – ChemConnect Inc., host of the World Chemical Exchange, the leading online marketplace where buyers and sellers of chemicals and plastics get market prices, today released details of its most recent e-Commerce Roundtable. The exclusive semi-annual event, attended by more than 30 of ChemConnect's Charter Members who represent the world's leading industries in the purchase and sale of chemicals and plastics, is a forum for the chemical and plastics industry to share e-commerce strategies and initiatives. At the Roundtable, industry leaders predicted widespread e-commerce adoption and cited forward and reverse auctions as critical tools for the procurement and sale of raw materials that are core to companies' production processes.
Executives who attended the invitation-only event titled "Next Generation Chemical Commerce: Purchasing and Sales Tactics" participated in lively discussions sparked by multiple panels on e-commerce experiences. Attendees ranged from executives responsible for sales and procurement of materials, as well as those who are leading e-business initiatives within companies and included representatives from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), ATOFINA, BASF, Bayer, BP Amoco (NYSE:BP), Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), DSM, Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), GE Plastics (NYSE:GE), Owens Corning (NYSE:OWC), Rohm and Haas (NYSE:ROH) and Sumitomo Corporation to name a few.
Highlights include a panel session focused on auction strategies. Panel members who offered insight and shared success stories using ChemConnect's Corporate Trading Rooms for private online auctions included: Sarah Morgan, Global Sourcing Quality Leader, GE Plastics; Watt Jackson, ATOFINA Chemicals, e-Business Projects Director; Nancy Mailhot, Owens Corning, Director, Sourcing Process; and Jim Snow, Manager of Chemical Purchasing, Abbott Laboratories.
Sergey Vasnetsov, a US Chemical Analyst at Lehman Brothers, presented an overview of the chemical and plastic industry's adoption of e-commerce titled "Chemical E-Commerce: Games and Gains." Vasnetsov predicts a steady increase in e-commerce adoption over the next three years culminated by the creation of a market for futures and risk management tools that will ultimately help in reducing volatility of chemical prices, cash margins, and thus improve valuation ratios (P/E) of chemical companies.
ChemConnect CEO John K. Robinson updated participants with a report on ChemConnect's progress and vision. "Our explosive growth illustrated by our annualized transaction volume of $1.8 billion on the World Chemical Exchange in Q4 2000 indicates that industry's commitment to e-commerce is growing," Robinson said. "We will continue to host the leading forum for the industry to share e-commerce practices between multiple buyers and sellers."
ChemConnect's e-Commerce Roundtable is a forum for ChemConnect's Charter Members to affect product development and help define the future of e-commerce for the $1.7 trillion global industry. ChemConnect's Charter Members comprise leading chemicals and plastics companies that have named the World Chemical Exchange as their preferred third party exchange. The next e-Commerce Roundtable will be held in June 2001, in Napa, California.
For more information, please contact:
Bob Osmond
UpStart Communications
(510) 457-3111
bosmond@upstart.com
Liz Youngs
UpStart Communications
(843) 881-5751
lyoungs@upstart.com
Note to Editors: ChemConnect is a registered trademark of ChemConnect, Inc. All other product, trademark, company or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.