Royal Polymers seeks to void agreement with US resin supplier

Royal Polymers Limited, of Sarnia, Ont., has served Houston, Tex.-based resin supplier Westlake Vinyls Inc. with a Notice of Application to render a long term pricing agreement for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) null and void.
The Application, filed on March 30 in the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, is the latest move in a dispute between the two companies stemming from their 2004 pricing agreement, which stated that the cost of VCM resins supplied by Westlake to Royal Polymers would be linked to data published in an industry trade magazine.
The magazine ceased publication on January 1, 2006, and since then the two companies have been attempting to renogotiate a new pricing mechanism.
On April 6, 2006, Westlake filed its own Application seeking to hold Royal Polymers to the 2004 agreement price levels.
Royal Polymer’s Application will be heard by the Court on June 29, 2006.
Royal Polymers, an affiliate of Woodbridge, Ont.-based polymer processor Royal Group Technologies Ltd., owns and operates a polyvinyl chloride (PVC)facility in Sarnia, and uses VCM as its principal raw material.