Crompton Expands Lubricants Capacity for Polymer, Personal Care Industries; New stearates facility is on-stream.

Business Editors

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2001

Crompton Corporation (NYSE:CK) has completed construction of a new facility at its Memphis, Tenn., site that will produce a broad array of metallic stearates, including calcium, lithium, magnesium, aluminum, zinc, sodium, and potassium fatty acid salts. These are primarily used as internal lubricants and processing aids in the manufacture of polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, polystyrene, and other engineered thermoplastics. Sodium and potassium stearates are also important in the personal care industry.

William Murrell, Vice President, Olefins & Styrenics, commented, "Crompton has completed its restructuring program to consolidate and modernize the stearate facilities and prepare our company for growth. An important part of this effort has been the investments that were made to create manufacturing centers of excellence like this. The new units at Memphis have enabled us to employ state-of-the-art technology to consolidate four plants into one. This plant plus our stearate manufacturing facility in Houston further enhance our market leadership position in these core Crompton products."

Peter Stewart, Global Manager - Amides & Stearates, said, "The stearate capacity offers both precipitated and fused process capabilities. With our current offerings, which include aluminum alkyls, amides, white oils, antioxidants, antistats, peroxides, and tin stabilizers, Crompton is able to provide our specialty polymer additive customers a broader range of high-quality, value-added ingredients to meet their needs."

Crompton Corporation (NYSE:CK) is a $3.1 billion global producer of polymer products, specialty chemicals, and polymer processing equipment sold to customers in 120 countries, and is comprised of the Witco, Uniroyal Chemical, OSi, and Davis-Standard businesses. More information on the company can be found at www.cromptoncorp.com.