Acordis Industrial Fibers To Raise Prices April 1, 2000

10 March 2000

Acordis Industrial Fibers To Raise Prices April 1, 2000 for Industrial Nylon Type 6,6 Fiber Products

    SCOTTSBORO, Ala.--March 9, 2000--Acordis, Industrial Fibers is raising the price of its nylon type 6,6 fibers in North America for airbag, MRG, and other industrial type product applications.
    Effective April 1, 2000, nylon fibers will rise by 6 - 8%. According to an Acordis North America spokesman this increase is important to cover raw material and associated costs following a period of price decline in nylon and the increase is important to continue serving our customers with the products and services they require.
    This is reported to be the first nylon price increase from Acordis in more than three years for fibers for the automotive, airbags, MRG industry, where prices have generally remained flat or depressed.
    Acordis Industrial Fibers is one of the world's leading producers of industrial yarns, manufacturing high-tenacity viscose, polyester and polyamide for the automotive industry, for technical fabrics and numerous technical applications, as well as for tire reinforcement, including converting.
    Acordis Industrial Fibers is the largest business unit of Acordis, employing some 4,500 people worldwide. Headquartered in Arnhem (the Netherlands), it is a global producer, with fully owned production facilities in the Netherlands,Germany, United States and Brazil.
    The Acordis group has sales of more than NLG 5 billion (USD 2.5 billion),employs 18,000 people worldwide and has production facilities in Germany,Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Poland.

    Note: Akzo Nobel symbol is AKZOY on NASDAQ