Masterbatch Manufacturers: 10 Verified Producers of Additive, Color, White and Black Masterbatch

A masterbatch manufacturer disperses pigments or additives into a carrier resin and sells the result as pellets that a converter lets down at 1 to 5% into the base polymer, and this directory lists the 10 producers whose locations, brand lines or ownership we could verify against a primary source. The hard part is not finding a masterbatch company: it is finding one that makes the type you need, in a carrier that matches your resin, and can prove the dispersion.

Four kinds of companies answer to the search term "masterbatch supplier": a masterbatch producer that disperses the concentrate, an additive manufacturer that synthesises or mines the active substance behind it, a compounder that blends colorant and masterbatch into a finished engineering compound, and a distributor that resells without making anything. All four turn up in the same search results, and only the first one is a masterbatch manufacturer in the sense used on this page.

This directory lists the producers below with their verified headquarters, brand lines and ownership history, maps the five masterbatch types (color, black, white, filler, additive) to their own supplier directories, sets out eight supplier checks, and covers production in India and the rest of Asia. It carries no paid inclusion and no paid position. Every cross-company list that currently ranks for this query is published either by a company that sells masterbatch or by a directory that charges for the listing; this one is not, and companies we could not verify are marked as such rather than dropped or padded. It covers masterbatch for plastics only; pigment pastes for concrete, textile dope dyeing and paint tinting are out of scope even where the chemistry is the same.

Table 1. What this directory covers.

Ten is the number of producers whose attributes we could verify, not a claim about how many exist. Trade directories on this query list 31, 88 and 100 names with no verified attribute per company.

What Does a Masterbatch Manufacturer Actually Make?#

A masterbatch manufacturer buys pigments and additives from the companies that synthesise or mine them, disperses 40 to 65 wt% of that active content into a carrier resin on a twin-screw line, and sells the pellets to a converter who lets them down at 1 to 5% of the blend, which is not the same activity as an additive manufacturer that sells only the neat substance or a compounder that sells a finished engineering compound.

The carrier resin is chosen to match the base polymer rather than the active ingredient: wax works as a universal carrier across most processes, EVA or LDPE carries plastic additives into polyolefins and nylon, and polystyrene carries them into ABS, SAN and sometimes PC. A masterbatch price per kilogram is therefore not comparable with a neat additive price per kilogram until it is divided by the let-down fraction, because the concentrate is diluted before it reaches the finished part. The 43 families of plastic additives are defined on the reference page; a masterbatch is a delivery form for them, not a family of its own.

Masterbatch Producer, Additive Manufacturer or Compounder?#

The four companies that all answer to "masterbatch supplier" sell four different things: a concentrate, a neat substance, a finished compound or a delivery service.

• Masterbatch producer, which disperses pigments or additives into a carrier resin and sells pellets by let-down ratio. Ampacet, Avient and Tosaf work this way.
• Additive manufacturer, which synthesises or mines the active substance itself. Cabot makes the carbon black that a black masterbatch later carries.
• Compounder, which blends colorant and additive concentrate into one finished engineering material. Teknor Apex compounds vinyl, TPE and engineering thermoplastics from 15 global locations and sells colorants and masterbatch beside them.
• Distributor, which buys, stores, repacks and resells without dispersing or synthesising anything itself.

The quote basis changes with the role: a masterbatch producer prices the concentrate per kilogram, while an additive manufacturer prices the active substance per kilogram, so the same total cost per part can come from two very different unit prices. Buyers who need the raw substance rather than a carrier-resin concentrate find it in the directory of plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers, where the additive manufacturer role is listed separately from the masterbatch producer role.

Standard Grade, Custom Masterbatch and Tolling#

The same masterbatch chemistry reaches a buyer in three commercial forms: a standard grade from a line card, a custom formulation matched to one polymer and one colour target, and tolling, where the buyer supplies the active and pays only for dispersion. A standard grade is comparable between two suppliers because its active content and carrier are fixed in advance. A custom masterbatch is made on the same twin-screw equipment as plastic compounding, at a much higher active loading, using either a premix route, where every component is blended before volumetric feeding, or a split-feed route, where the pigment is fed downstream of the melting zone for gentler wetting and fewer agglomerates. Tolling describes an arrangement rather than a price: the buyer supplies the pigment or additive, the producer supplies dispersion capacity, and no commercial term is stated here because none is verified.

Delivery forms extend beyond the pellet. A producer can quote neat pigment powder, a pigment preparation predispersed at 40 to 70% on wax or polymer, masterbatch pellets, micro-pellets, liquid colour dosed by peristaltic pump for highly accurate dosing and quick colour changes, paste for PVC plastisols, or a dry blend. One producer-specific example shows how far a custom concentrate can diverge from a standard grade: PLASTICYL carbon nanotube masterbatch from Nanocyl, part of Birla Carbon, carries 10 to 20 wt% carbon nanotubes in PBT, ABS, HDPE, LDPE, EVA, PA, PC, PEEK and HIPS carriers. The powder, pastille, liquid and dust-free-blend alternatives are compared under additive product forms.

Masterbatch Manufacturers: The Directory#

The 10 producers below fall into three groups: full-line masterbatch houses that sell every type, specialty producers whose masterbatch is one line beside their pigment, carbon black or additive business, and compounders and regional producers that concentrate on one type or one market. Table 2 orders each group by verified attribute count, then alphabetically, never by size or by an editorial ranking.

Table 2. Masterbatch producer directory.

A blank cell means the value is not yet confirmed against a primary source. Unconfirmed values stay blank and are never filled with an estimate. Rows 6, 7, 9 and 10 have no profile page yet.

How this directory is built. No company pays for inclusion or position on this table. A company is listed only where our source library holds a verified headquarters, brand line, site count or dated transaction; every other cell stays blank rather than filled from a competitor's listing. See our editorial policy for the full verification process.

1. Full-Line Masterbatch Houses (3)#

Full-line masterbatch houses manufacture colour, white, black and additive masterbatch across multiple polymer families; the group has three: Avient, Ampacet and Tosaf. Avient was formed as PolyOne on 31 August 2000 from Geon and M.A. Hanna, acquired Clariant's masterbatch business in 2020 for about USD 1.6 billion, renamed itself Avient, and reported USD 3.26 billion in revenue for 2025 per its SEC XBRL filings. Ampacet describes itself as the global masterbatch leader and remains privately held, with no headquarters city confirmed against a primary source. Tosaf runs 22 production sites in more than 50 countries with about 1,600 employees, a pattern seen across the industry: masterbatch production follows the converter rather than concentrating in one region.

2. Specialty Producers with a Masterbatch Line (4)#

Specialty producers with a masterbatch line are companies whose colour or additive concentrate business sits beside a larger, separately branded operation; the group has four: Cabot, Clariant, Nanocyl and Plastiblends. Cabot makes the BLACK PEARLS, ELFTEX and VULCAN carbon blacks first, then disperses them into the PLASBLAK black masterbatch and CABELEC conductive compounds. Clariant sold its masterbatch business to PolyOne in 2020 and now supplies AddWorks additive concentrates plus the Licocene, Licowax and Ceridust waxes used elsewhere in the industry as carriers and dispersion aids. Nanocyl, part of Birla Carbon, supplies PLASTICYL carbon nanotube masterbatch at 10 to 20 wt% loading, and Plastiblends supplies Polydry desiccant masterbatch, though neither company's headquarters or ownership is confirmed against a primary source.

3. Compounders and Regional Masterbatch Producers (3)#

Compounders and regional masterbatch producers are companies for which masterbatch is one product line beside vinyl compounds, engineering thermoplastics or a single regional market; the group has three: Teknor Apex, Plastika Kritis and Hubron. Teknor Apex compounds vinyl, TPE and engineering thermoplastics from 15 global locations and sells colorants and masterbatch beside them. Plastika Kritis and Hubron are recorded in our research as masterbatch producers, and Plastika Kritis also appears in one analyst's top-five list, but no attribute of either company is verified against a primary source, so both rows carry the unverified marker and no invented detail.

Which Masterbatch Type Do You Need? Color, Black, White, Filler and Additive#

Buyers almost never ask for masterbatch in general: they ask for black masterbatch for a pipe, white masterbatch for a film, a colour match for a moulded part, filler masterbatch for a carrier bag, or an additive masterbatch carrying exactly one function. Table 3 lists the five types, each with its typical loading and let-down ratio.

Pressure-pipe black masterbatch carries 35 wt% carbon black under North American practice, let down at 5 to 6.5% (19:1 to 14:1), giving 1.75 to 2.3% carbon black in the pipe wall against the 2 to 2.5% ISO 4427 requires; dispersion quality falls above 40 wt% carbon black, so producers keep masterbatch loading below that level. Coloured pressure-pipe masterbatch is let down at a lighter 2 to 4% (49:1 to 24:1), and filler masterbatch is typically 70 to 85% calcium carbonate in a PE or PP carrier. An antioxidant masterbatch at 2.5% delivers 1,000 ppm active antioxidant, antifog masterbatch is let down at 1 to 3%, and desiccant masterbatch at 1% per 0.15% moisture to absorb. White masterbatch has no published titanium dioxide loading value in our source library; its type page states one once a primary source confirms it.

Table 3. The five masterbatch types.

Let-down figures are written in both conventions, as a percentage and as a ratio, because suppliers use both in the same document.

How Do You Choose a Masterbatch Supplier? 8 Checks#

Choosing a masterbatch supplier takes 8 checks, and only the first is about the company: the other seven cover the concentrate, its carrier, its evidence and the pigment behind its price. What a masterbatch is and how it is tested is set out on the reference page; this page starts from the producer instead, so two quotes can be compared on the same basis rather than as two different products that both happen to share a name.

1. Confirm the company disperses rather than resells. A masterbatch producer converts pigments or additives into pellets itself; a distributor resells someone else's concentrate without changing it.
2. Fix the masterbatch type. Color, black, white, filler and additive masterbatch use different carriers, loadings and test evidence, so the type decision comes before any supplier comparison.
3. Match the carrier resin to the base polymer. Wax works as a universal carrier, EVA or LDPE suit polyolefins and nylon, polystyrene suits ABS, SAN and sometimes PC, and pipe-grade black masterbatch needs an MLDPE or LLDPE carrier with a melt index below 20 g/10 min.
4. Set the active content and the let-down ratio together. 40 to 65 wt% active content combined with a 1 to 5% addition rate determines the final concentration, so request both numbers as a pair.
5. Ask for the dispersion evidence by standard number. A filter pressure value under EN 13900-5, a microtome rating under ISO 18553 or a film inspection each measure a different failure mode; ask for the number, not an adjective.
6. Ask for the colour and heat-stability evidence by standard number. ASTM D2244 quantifies colour difference, EN 12877-2 quantifies colorant heat stability, and EN 14469-4 quantifies bleeding and migration.
7. Screen the compliance route for what the masterbatch carries. EU 10/2011, 21 CFR 178.3297 and REACH Annex XVII apply to the pigment, additive or carrier inside the concentrate, not to the masterbatch as a category.
8. Check the pigment or filler behind the price. Titanium dioxide, carbon black and calcium carbonate prices move independently of masterbatch prices and should be checked against their own price guide before a quote is judged expensive or cheap.

Buyers who want the full sequence in one document can download the Masterbatch Supplier Qualification Checklist (PDF) by giving an email, role and company name.

Carrier Resin and Let-Down Ratio: What the Enquiry Must State#

Two producers can quote the same price per kilogram and deliver a different cost per part, because the number that matters is active content multiplied by the let-down fraction. The carrier resin has to match the base polymer first: wax works as a universal carrier, EVA or LDPE carry additives into polyolefins and nylon, polystyrene carries them into ABS, SAN and sometimes PC, and pipe-grade black masterbatch needs an MLDPE or LLDPE carrier with a melt index below 20 g/10 min. Carrier compatibility by base polymer is tabulated under masterbatch carrier resins.

A supplier quoting the same masterbatch writes its let-down ratio in two conventions in one document, for example "5%, which is 19:1" and "6.5%, which is 14:1". A 35 wt% carbon black masterbatch let down at 5% gives 1.75% carbon black in the pipe; at 6.5% it gives 2.3%. ISO 4427 asks for 2 to 2.5%, so the same masterbatch passes or fails on the let-down setting alone. Cost-in-use, not price per kilogram, decides which quote is cheaper: it equals masterbatch price multiplied by the let-down fraction, so a stronger masterbatch at a lower let-down can cost less per part even at a higher price per kilogram, and tinting strength is the basis for comparing two colour masterbatches this way. A 60 wt% calcium carbonate masterbatch in LLDPE tripled the melt viscosity of neat LLDPE until 3 wt% wax plus 1.0 wt% zinc stearate brought it back near neat, per Radebe and colleagues, University of Pretoria, 2022, Polymer Engineering and Science. Both conventions are converted in the let-down ratio calculator.

Dispersion and Colour Evidence a Producer Should Supply#

A masterbatch producer can prove dispersion in three ways, and a buyer should ask for all three by standard number rather than by adjective: a filter pressure value, a microtome rating and a film inspection. The filter pressure value measures the pressure rise in bar per gram of pigment when a masterbatch diluted in carrier resin is pushed through a screen pack, under EN 13900-5, with a film variant under EN 13900-6, and the accepted result for fibre grades is below 1 bar/g. The microtome rating under ISO 18553 grades carbon black and pigment agglomerates on microtome slices of polyolefin pipe, with ASTM D3015 and ISO 11420 as alternatives; one producer reports a 1-to-5 microdispersion rating on about 1.5 mil PE film per lot. These methods, and what each can and cannot detect, are covered under dispersion testing of pigments and masterbatch.

Colour evidence follows separate standards. ASTM D2244 quantifies colour difference, EN 12877-2 quantifies colorant heat stability, commonly to a delta E*ab of 3 or less after 5 minutes, and EN 14469-4 quantifies bleeding and migration. Metamerism, where two colours match under one light source and not another, has to be managed whenever a formulation moves away from heavy-metal pigments, and it is assessed in the CIE Yxy and CIELAB colour spaces. Gels in film come from degraded or crosslinked polymer, unmelted resin or concentrate, and insufficient energy during concentrate production, so a gel complaint should be traced to one of those three first. Delta E, CIELAB and metamerism are explained under colour measurement and matching.

Food Contact and Restricted Substances Inside a Masterbatch#

The masterbatch is not what is regulated; what it carries is. Under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, only Union-list substances may be used in food-contact plastics, the overall migration limit is 10 mg/dm2 (60 mg/kg for infant food), the generic specific migration limit is 60 mg/kg, and a functional-barrier limit of 0.01 mg/kg applies behind a barrier layer. Carbon black carries its own entry, FCM 411: 2.5% w/w maximum in the polymer, benzo(a)pyrene at 0.25 mg/kg of carbon black or below, and toluene extractables at 0.1% or below under ISO 6209, with no migration limit set. The Union list and migration limits are set out on EU 10/2011.

In the United States, high-purity furnace black used as a colorant is limited to 2.5% by weight of the polymer under 21 CFR 178.3297, with PAH at 0.5 ppm or less and benzo(a)pyrene at 5.0 ppb or less. This section, "Colorants for polymers", is the general US clearance route, and a listing under it should never be called "FDA approved", since it is a clearance, not an approval seal. EU colorants sit outside the 10/2011 Union list except named entries such as carbon black FCM 411 and titanium dioxide FCM 610. The 21 CFR route is mapped on FDA food contact rules.

REACH Annex XVII entry 23 limits cadmium to below 0.01% by weight of the plastic material in the listed polymers, with LDPE excepted for coloured masterbatch, and recovered rigid PVC allowed up to 0.1% cadmium in the building uses the entry names. Titanium dioxide carries no harmonised EU classification in force, after the General Court annulled the earlier classification on 23 November 2022 and the Court of Justice dismissed the appeals on 1 August 2025, so it should never be described as carcinogen-classified in the EU. Carbon black (airborne, unbound respirable particles) is listed on the California Proposition 65 list maintained by OEHHA. Entry 23 and its LDPE exception are on REACH Annex XVII restrictions.

What Goes Into a Masterbatch, and Who Supplies It?#

Before a masterbatch producer sells anything it buys three things: the pigment or additive, the carrier resin and a dispersing aid, and the first sets most of the price. Titanium dioxide carries a US landed duty-paid import price of about USD 3,200 per tonne, a 2025 USGS estimate, against a world pigment capacity of 9.9 Mt/yr, of which China holds 6.0 Mt/yr. Carbon black grade sets both cost and performance: N550 at 40 to 48 nm suffices for pipe, while N330 at 26 to 30 nm or N110 below 20 nm is needed for more than 3 to 5 years outdoors. Dispersing aids are bought in too: a polyglycerol-ester aid such as Palsgaard's Einar 103 is used at 1 to 5% of a colour masterbatch formulation, and Licocene waxes act as carrier and dispersion aid at once. Filler masterbatch adds a fourth input, calcium carbonate, at 70 to 85% by weight. Only USGS unit values are printed as prices here; paywalled price-reporting agencies are never reproduced, and no price per kilogram is given for any masterbatch grade.

Table 4. What goes into a masterbatch.

Where Are Masterbatch Manufacturers Located?#

Masterbatch is the least concentrated step in the additive supply chain: the pellets are bulky, colour matching is a local service, and one of the three full-line houses in this directory alone runs 22 production sites. Tosaf serves more than 50 countries from those sites, because shipping bulky pellets long distances adds freight cost that a local blend avoids. The producers here with a confirmed headquarters sit in different regions: Avient in Avon Lake, Ohio; Cabot in Boston, Massachusetts; Teknor Apex in Pawtucket, Rhode Island; and Clariant in Muttenz, Switzerland. The inputs behind masterbatch are concentrated even where the concentrate is not: China holds 6.0 of the world's 9.9 million tonnes a year of titanium dioxide pigment capacity, a 2025 US Geological Survey estimate, which sets a regional cost floor every white masterbatch producer inherits regardless of where it compounds. No country count or capacity figure for masterbatch itself is published here beyond these verified company facts; the local search results for this query are not evidence of national production volume.

Masterbatch Manufacturers in India#

India is one of the densest masterbatch markets in the world, and this directory does not yet name a single Indian masterbatch producer, because a company is listed here only where a primary source confirms at least one of its attributes. Search results for masterbatch queries in India return dozens of company sites, mostly around Ahmedabad and Delhi, but none of their headquarters, brand lines or ownership has been checked against a primary source, so none appears in Table 2. This is the page's largest verified gap, stated here rather than filled from a competitor listing or a paid directory.

What can be written instead is what India's verified additive producers supply to the masterbatch makers who buy from them. Platinum Industries, headquartered in Mumbai, supplies PVC stabilizers from plants in Palghar and Ain Sokhna. Fine Organics, also in Mumbai, has worked in oleochemistry since 1971 and supplies more than 450 products. Sudarshan, based in Pune, supplies pigments and completed its acquisition of Heubach on 3 March 2025. None of the three is a masterbatch producer, but each sells an input one buys. The verified producers, and what they supply to masterbatch makers, are on plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers in India. Patterns such as "master batch manufacturers in Delhi" or "in Gujarat" describe city-level demand tracked here at the country level, not with a page per city.

Masterbatch Manufacturers in China and the Rest of Asia#

China dominates the input rather than the concentrate: it holds 6.0 of the world's 9.9 million tonnes a year of titanium dioxide pigment capacity, according to the US Geological Survey, which sets the floor price of white masterbatch everywhere it is compounded. This mirrors the counter-pattern already stated for the industry as a whole: Tosaf alone runs 22 production sites across more than 50 countries, so masterbatch compounding follows the converter rather than following pigment capacity.

No Chinese masterbatch producer is named on this page, even though several rank on masterbatch search queries, because none is verified against a primary source on file. Our source library verifies exactly one Chinese additive producer, Rianlon of Tianjin, and it manufactures stabilizers rather than masterbatch, so it does not belong in Table 2 either. Taiwanese and Israeli producers, including Tosaf, are never described as Chinese. Chinese capacity by additive category is covered on plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers in China.

How Do You Request a Masterbatch Quote?#

A masterbatch quote is only comparable when every producer prices the same concentrate at the same point in your process, which takes 9 items in the request.

• Masterbatch type: color, black, white, filler or additive.
• Base polymer and grade, with its melt index, so the carrier can be matched.
• Process: film, pipe, injection moulding or fibre.
• Target active concentration in the finished part, not in the masterbatch itself.
• Preferred let-down ratio, or the freedom for the producer to propose one.
• Colour target, with the standard it will be measured against.
• Dispersion requirement, with its standard number.
• Compliance route required, naming the EU 10/2011 entry or the 21 CFR section that applies.
• Annual volume, destination country and whether a sample is wanted.

Buyers can send one masterbatch enquiry to several verified producers at once with the plastic additive supplier finder, and a checkbox inside the form requests a colour-matched sample alongside the quote. The list above asks for a volume; it never asks for a minimum order quantity, because our source library holds no verified minimum order data for any masterbatch producer.

How Big Is the Masterbatch Industry?#

This page publishes no masterbatch market size, and here is why. No masterbatch market size, CAGR or volume figure could be verified against a primary source, and that gap is stated here rather than filled from a paywalled estimate, so this page repeats no such figure from any source. Context is still available at the level of plastic additives as a whole: the additive market is valued between USD 43.5 billion for 2023 by MarketsandMarkets and USD 63.71 billion for 2025 by Precedence Research, a spread of about a factor of 1.5 caused by whether fillers, pigments and masterbatch are counted as additives at all. What can and cannot be said about segment size is on masterbatch market.

Why This Page Publishes No Masterbatch Market Size#

Masterbatch is the hardest additive segment to size, because one group of analysts counts it inside the pigment market, another counts it inside compounding, and a third treats it as a market of its own. This scope disagreement is the same reason the wider additive market figures differ by about a factor of 1.5: the higher estimate counts fillers, pigments and masterbatch as additives, and the lower one does not, so any masterbatch figure derived by subtracting one from the other inherits that ambiguity twice over rather than resolving it. A market-report landing page that states a precise masterbatch CAGR is making that scope choice silently, without disclosing which items it included, and this page declines to repeat a number it cannot trace to a stated scope.

Who Are the Largest Masterbatch Manufacturers in the World?#

No neutral ranking of masterbatch manufacturers by masterbatch sales is published: the lists that circulate come from market-report landing pages and from companies that sell masterbatch themselves. MarketsandMarkets names Avient, Ampacet, LyondellBasell and Cabot as key players in a January 2024 report, and Mordor Intelligence names Cabot, Clariant, Ampacet, Avient and Plastika Kritis, a list that still includes Clariant five years after it sold its masterbatch business to PolyOne in 2020. Ampacet describes itself as the global masterbatch leader, a company claim, not an independent measurement. The ranking we publish, and its method, are on largest plastic additive companies.

How Consolidation Changed the Masterbatch Supplier List#

One transaction explains most of the confusion on this query: Clariant sold its masterbatch business to PolyOne in 2020, and PolyOne renamed itself Avient, which is why analyst lists published years later still name both companies as masterbatch producers. PolyOne itself was formed on 31 August 2000 from Geon and M.A. Hanna, and the same USD 1.6 billion Clariant transaction was followed by two further Avient acquisitions: Magna Colours in 2021 for USD 48 million, and DSM Protective Materials in 2022 for USD 1.485 billion. A datasheet found under a Clariant masterbatch name may still describe a grade that exists today under Avient, so a brand-name search alone can miss the current owner. The full transaction record is on who owns which brand.

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