Cabot's

We are one of the leading manufacturers of carbon black in the world. We compete in the manufacture of carbon black primarily with two companies with a global presence and numerous other companies that operate regionally, some of which export product outside their region. Competition for products within Reinforcement Materials is based on product performance, quality, reliability, price, service, technical innovation, and logistics. We believe our product differentiation, technological leadership, global manufacturing presence, operations and logistics excellence and customer service provide us with a competitive advantage.

We are a leading producer of the products we sell in this segment. We compete in the manufacture of carbon black primarily with two companies with a global presence and several other companies that have a regional presence, some of which export product outside their region. We compete with several companies that produce specialty compounds, primarily in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Our inkjet colorants and inks are designed to replace traditional pigment dispersions and dyes used in inkjet printing applications. Competitive products for inkjet colorants are organic dyes and other dispersed pigments manufactured and marketed by large chemical companies and small independent producers. For fumed silica, we compete primarily with two companies with a global presence and several other companies which have a regional presence. For aerogel, we compete principally with one other company that produces aerogel products. We also compete with non-aerogel insulation products manufactured by regional companies throughout the world.

Competition for our products is based on product performance, quality, reliability, service, technical innovation and price. We believe our product differentiation, technological leadership, operations excellence and customer service provide us with a competitive advantage.