First ICIS European Surfactant Conference
Budapest, September 13th and 14th
In less than two weeks over 100 thought leaders from the European surfactant industry will gather in Budapest for the 1st ICIS European surfactant conference at the historic Meridien Hotel. Some big names from the surfactant and consumer product value chain will speak, like Unilever, BASF and Brenntag The one and a half day event will include over papers and networking covering a range of critical topics for the industry and enable networking at the highest levels in one of Europe’s most beautiful and dynamic cities.
Over a year in the making, the conference will address five critical themes which affect the surfactant value chain in Europe, today. These are:
- Strategy
- Sustainability
- Feedstocks
- End-Users, Markets & Consumers
- Emerging Markets of Europe
For each of these themes, the producers of the conference, ICIS and Neil A Burns LLC, have assembled the leading practitioners and analysts in the business to share their insights and experience with senior management delegates from all corners of the industry.
The strategy section will focus in on the critical question of vertical integration in the surfactant industry. This section will be teed up by a paper from me entitled “Attack of the 50 ft surfactant company”. If you want to know more about the title, register for the conference ! (50 ft is about 15 metres). The section will then include papers from ERCA / Emery, Kolb / KLK and SABIC. All companies aggressively involved in moving both downstream and into Europe from their home bases.
Sustainability is never far from the forefront and our conference will feature two very serious views view from two very credible companies. Their views may not entirely overlap. We have the worlds largest chemical company, BASF alongside the leading European green consumer product company, Ecover.
Feedstocks continue to challenge even the most seasoned surfactant supply chain veteran; probably more-so now than ever. To bring some clarity and insight to this complex area we have: Dow – talking about ethylene and EO, Farabi a relatively but very powerful player in LAB and Nexant, analyzing the entire slate of surfactant feedstocks of all types
End-users, markets and consumers ; is really the cornerstone of the conference. Here we bring in two of the worlds leading expert consumer consulting companies, Euromonitor and Mintel. They will focus on HI&I and Personal Care consumer markets respectively. A highlight of this section is a speech from Steve Holland the CEO of the world’s biggest chemical distributor. Brenntag is the bridge from many producers to many markets. Rounding out this topic is a unique insight from a uniquely talented member of the Unilever Company, Peter Smith.
This being a Hungary based conference, the Emerging Markets of Europe are a key element of the proceedings. Rhodia will talk about Russia and their efforts with Sibur and will speculate on whether indeed Russia is the next big market of opportunity. KOZMOS, the Hungarian trade association will guide the conference around the local market landscape for HI&I and PC surfactants. Saruhan, an up and coming consumer product company in an up and coming market, Turkey, will make a rare public presentation. PCC Exol, the local, Polish, surfactant champion, with global ambitions will also make a rare public appearance. Rounding out the conference; We have the Hungary based FMCG strategy specialist, Marco Monfils with a detailed look at the CEE consumer markets.
In addition to the stellar line up of speakers, our sponsors deserve a special mention for their support of this important event. Sponsors, who will also have many participants at the conference, include:
Of course, the conference also benefits from the partnership of key media and trade organisations from the industry, including; FECC, HPC Magazine, Focus on Surfactants, and Euromonitor.
In summary, this event looks set to build on and, in some areas, surpass the success of the now well established world surfactant conference in New York. I am told that the conference space has been expanded after the initial allocation reached capacity. Registrations are now still being accepted. I am very much looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues there.