Compounders group probes legality of EU force majeures

Brussels – This year has already seen 11 force majeure cases in Europe, according to the European Compounders and Masterbatchers Association (EuMBC) which is questioning the legality of these declarations.

The moves by European polyolefin producers have been for ‘technical reasons’ and have led to low product availability, shortages and inevitably to significant price increases, said a 21 April statement from EuMBC.

A force majeure is defined as an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond control of the supplier or act of God such as a war, strike, riot, crime, hurricane, flood, earthquake, etc.

Only under these circumstances the supplier would be relieved from fulfilling its contractual obligations towards its customer, said EuMBC, which has not seen convincing evidence justifying these recent declarations.

The compounders group said it had, therefore, started further investigations into the matter “in order to appropriately respond to this critical situation.”

EuMBC represents the interests of the European compounds and masterbatch producers. Member companies include Cabot Corp, Gabriel-Chemie, Mitsubishi Chemical, A Schulman, PolyOne Corp and Clariant.