Chemical Specialties – FoamPartner and
Schmid Rhyner
Polyurethane foams and print finishing.
For Schmid Rhyner’s print finishing business, the raw materials situation in 2018 also proved challenging, with higher costs, shortages of certain materials and the reclassification of certain materials as hazardous. Despite the price increases, it retained its existing market shares, although market momentum slowed in the second half of the year. It will remain necessary for Schmid Rhyner to expand its business with innovative specialties in the packaging printing market so as to counteract the continuing market-driven decline in revenue in the commercial printing business. It successfully achieved this again in 2018, with its Touch & Feel and Low Migration products gaining share. Aided by new products and the integration of ISAtec, which was acquired in 2018, Schmid Rhyner was able to position itself for future growth in the dynamic markets for flexible tactile packaging and packaging finished with metallic effects.