PROMOTIONS IN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT-- Teresa Dockstader, Operations Manager, announced the promotion of two managers within the Operations Department during a recent management conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Michael Sterling has been reassigned to the Quality Department as a Quality Assurance Manager working for Laboratory Manager Anna Milano. Mr. Sterling joined Medax in 2011 as the Assistant Operations Manager. Charles Zitting has been promoted to Assistant Operations Manager. Mr. Zitting recently joined Medax International filling various operational positions. POLYPROPYLENE PRICES STILL HIGH-- Polypropylene's (PP) market is struggling amid back-to-back price increases and the spot-market eased only a penny on light demand. March PP contracts rose $0.05/lb, a dime less than originally sought, but the $0.215/lb two-month jump is proving to be a large pill to swallow. Tight PGP monomer supplies, due to crackers opting to utilize ethane as a favored feedstock over propane, have been further restricted by a series of planned refinery and cracker turnarounds. Over the past several years, most PP contracts have been tied to monomer, rather than supply/demand of the resin, hence the uncontested increases. "The spot market does not follow this model," said James Gibas, Senior Executive Vice President & General Manager. "Buyers bought heavily ahead of these recent increases and current purchases are limited to an as-needed basis." Suppliers, with plenty of material to sell, continue to offer spot material well discounted to contracts, with deals available for those that can handle below prime grade materials. "Medax International does not use sub-prime grade material in any of its product line or associated component inventory, thus we are relegated to purchase the higher priced resins," Gibas concluded. ANOTHER STEEP INCREASE FOR POLYPROPYLENE-- The Propylene market was quiet until the end of the week when a nomination emerged to increase March PGP contracts by $.15/lb. Existing offers for March PGP at $.74/lb were scooped and asking prices moved a couple cents higher. The nomination was quite a shock, since monomer has only traded in the low $.70s/lb during the past several weeks. However, near term fundamentals are bullish. Ethane is hugely favored over Propane as the cracker feedstock of choice and since Ethane generates mostly Ethylene and only a limited amount of Propylene, PGP supplies are tight. The maintenance season is also underway and a series of crackers and refineries will be offline through May, further tightening supplies. There was a $.22/lb increase nominated for Feb PGP, but “only $.165/lb” took hold, we will see if gentler nominations are presented for March. Spot Polypropylene prices eased a penny amid weak demand and ample spot resin availability. Processors appear to be well-stocked with resin, having purchased 1.45 billion lbs of PP in January, a figure eclipsed just twice in the past three and a half years. Several resellers are still looking to find homes for well-priced railcars procured early in the month while Houston traders also have old inventory to sell. Despite the possibility that PGP monomer and PP resin could see another steep increase in March, Polypropylene producer railcar offers continue to flow and on some occasions are offered around the price of spot monomer. However, it is not just about supply/demand since most PP resin contracts are pegged to monomer and resin buyers en large are simply not involved in monthly monomer contract negotiations. POLYPROPYLENE PRICES RISE-- Polypropylene prices in Asia moved higher with key feedstock propylene firm at the $1,395/tonne FOB Korea levels, and Chinese demand beginning to slowly return following the New Year's holiday. Polymerupdate also noted that with naphtha prices strong in Asia, PP sellers were successful in driving their spot offer prices higher last week. MEDAX PROJECTS STRONG THIRD QUARTER-- During a recent management conference, Medax offered a strong revenue and profit forecast for the third fiscal quarter of 2011. "New customer relationships, recent manufacturing efficiencies and capital asset investments have resulted in significant growth opportunities for Medax during the coming months," said James Gibas, Senior Executive Vice President & General Manager. "The introduction of the new 1250ul pipette tip and the huge upturn in sales of the Medax aerosol-barrier product line has allowed Medax to increase our revenue and profit projections in double-digits for the third and fourth quarters. Further, Medax has earned the business of several new customers, many resulting from recent industry consolidations, and our ability to meet stringent delivery deadlines and provide long-term, supply-chain fulfillments," said Teresa Dockstader, Operations Manager. MEDAX INTRODUCES THE BRAND NEW 1250ul FILTERED PIPETTE TIP-- Medax has an earned reputation for product excellence and innovation. To that end, we introduce the latest tip in our family of premium Medax pipette tips. The new 1250ul filtered pipette tip is designed with all the specifications required by the top life science laboratories around the world. Manufactured using 100% virgin polypropylene in our state-of-the-art facility, the new 1250ul pipette tip has been designed to ensure the precision of today's modern pipettors. The 1250ul tip maintains all of the well-known Medax pipette tip attributes, including reduced-force attachment and ejection with complete sealing. The new 1250ul filtered pipette tip is loaded with the highest quality, aerosol-barrier filters manufactured by Porex Corporation. This is especially important in critical DNA amplification and microbiological procedures where minute trace carryovers can invalidate experimental results. The new 1250ul filtered pipette tip comes pre-sterilized. The new Medax 1250ul filtered pipette tip has been designed to be packaged using the current 1000ul pipette tip packaging systems, including our standard tip rack. Lab worktable space is always at a premium and Medax's thoughful packaging configuration provides the ability to interchange 1000ul and 1250ul tips in the same rack. Contact your Customer Service Representative today for more information and to order your sample pack!