Abstract

The latest Infocast Annual Meeting on Next Generation Biobased Chemicals confirms previous concerns regarding the impact of the fracking industry in US on the continued growth of the sector. The brand owners, NGOs and service providers repeatedly reinforced the idea that green demand remains real on the consumer side however the biobased chemicals manufacturers’ sentiment was that a green price premium is increasingly unacceptable in the present economic climate. Besides the profitability cap, the biobased industry might see lower growth rates due to waning governmental subsidies in 2013 and beyond. This will likely impact the financing and investment in the biobased industry, one of the very few brighter spots in the manufacturing sectors. Under these circumstances, companies promoting biobased products need to see supply risk, product performance and price as mere business qualifiers while counting on the green value proposition as differentiator for select markets only. With steel going in the ground for numerous demonstration and commercialization plants in 2013 the speakers highlighted that gas supply from fracking will pose challenges for some while providing new opportunities for others.

INTRODUCTION

A recent article published by this magazine (1) ranked the International Energy Agency (2) prediction that USA will become energy self sufficient as the biggest event for the green chemical industry in 2012. Fracking, a new drilling technique rendering access to previously inaccessible gas and oil deposits could have profound business implications on the future of the chemical industry in general as well as on the emerging biobased industry in particular.
The participants at the Infocast 4th Annual Meeting on Next Generation Biobased Chemicals (3) confirmed the concerns regarding the impact of the fracking industry on the accelerated growth of the biobased sector. Nevertheless, the meeting also revealed that there are also some exciting opportunities embedded in the potential development of the shale gas-based economy.
While this U-turn in the business environment was already reflected in the lower turnout of angel, VC and investor bankers present at the next generation biobased edition 2013, the industry participation was at an all time high making the event a highly successful communication and learning platform for all at ...