Black Masterbatch Manufacturers and Suppliers: 8 Specification Checks Before You Order

Five black masterbatch manufacturers are verified in this directory against named sources, and because a carbon black concentrate is quoted rather than sold from a catalogue, every one of their quotes is compared on the same 8 specification checks. A concentrate that is 35 wt% carbon black and is let down at 5 to 6.5% of the base polymer looks like a commodity on the purchase order and behaves like a custom formulation in the extruder, so what exactly is being bought?

Four kinds of company answer to the search term "black masterbatch supplier": a masterbatch house that buys carbon black and disperses it into pellets, a carbon black producer that makes the pigment itself and, in one case, compounds it into a concentrate too, a compounder that blends the concentrate into a finished engineering material, and a distributor that resells without changing anything. All four turn up in the same search results, and knowing which one a quote comes from decides what the price per kilogram actually buys.

This directory lists the five producers whose black masterbatch business we could verify against a primary source, maps the companies that supply the carbon black behind those concentrates, sets out 8 specification checks and a 10-item quote request, and covers production in India, China and the rest of Asia. It carries no paid inclusion and no paid position, and companies we could not verify are marked as such rather than dropped or padded. It covers black masterbatch for plastics only; carbon black used in tyres, inks, coatings and other rubber goods is out of scope even where the pigment is identical.

Table 1. How to use this directory.

Table counts describe this directory, not the industry. Paid trade directories on the same query list dozens of names with no verified attribute per company.

What Does a Black Masterbatch Supplier Actually Sell?#

A black masterbatch supplier is a company that disperses carbon black into a carrier resin and sells the result as a concentrate, which means what a buyer pays for is dispersion and particle-size control, not carbon chemistry: most masterbatch houses buy their carbon black from a dedicated producer rather than making it themselves.

The carrier resin is chosen to match the base polymer, not the pigment: wax works as a universal carrier, EVA or LDPE carry additives into polyolefins and nylon, and polystyrene carries them into ABS, SAN and sometimes PC, while pipe-grade black masterbatch specifically needs an MLDPE or LLDPE carrier with a melt index below 20 g/10 min. The 43 families of plastic additives are defined on the reference page; a masterbatch is one delivery form for them, not a family of its own.

Carbon black producer, masterbatch house, compounder or distributor?#

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

• Carbon black producer, which makes the pigment itself. Cabot, Orion Engineered Carbons and Birla Carbon work this way, and Cabot alone also compounds its own pigment into a masterbatch line.
• Masterbatch house, which buys carbon black and disperses it into pellets sold by let-down ratio. Ampacet, Avient and Tosaf work this way.
• Compounder, which blends the 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 house prices the concentrate per kilogram, while a carbon black producer prices the pigment per kilogram, so a masterbatch price is never comparable with a neat carbon black price until it is divided by the loading and the let-down.

Why a black masterbatch has no comparable catalogue price#

A black masterbatch is quoted rather than listed because three of its variables are set by the buyer's part and not by the supplier's catalogue: the carbon black loading in the pellet, the let-down ratio it runs at, and the carrier that has to match the base polymer. The North American industry standard for pressure-pipe grades is 35 wt% carbon black, let down at 5 to 6.5% (19:1 to 14:1), giving about 1.75 to 2.3% carbon black in the finished part; masterbatches above 40 wt% carbon black are avoided because the pigment can no longer be wetted properly at that concentration. Coloured, non-black pipe masterbatch runs a lighter 2 to 4% (49:1 to 24:1), a different arithmetic entirely. The composition and the full let-down maths are worked through on black masterbatch.

Black Masterbatch Manufacturers: The Directory#

The five producers below fall into three groups: full-line masterbatch houses that supply black alongside other concentrate types, a carbon black producer with its own black masterbatch line, and one regional producer named in a single competitor's listing but not yet independently verified. Table 2 orders each group by verified attribute count, then alphabetically, never by size or by an editorial ranking.

Table 2. Black masterbatch producer directory.

A blank cell means the value is not yet confirmed against a primary source. Row 5 has no profile page yet.

How this directory is built. No company pays for inclusion or position in 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; its REC-NIR-BLACK grade is the one near-infrared-detectable black concentrate named in our source library. Tosaf runs 22 production sites in more than 50 countries with about 1,600 employees.

2. Carbon black producer with its own black masterbatch line (1)#

Cabot is the one producer in this directory that both makes the pigment and compounds it into masterbatch: it sells the BLACK PEARLS, ELFTEX and VULCAN carbon blacks first, then disperses them into the PLASBLAK black masterbatch line, and separately into CABELEC conductive compounds, a distinct grade class that is not interchangeable with a pigment-grade black.

3. Regional producer named but unverified (1)#

Hubron is recorded in our research as a black masterbatch producer, named in a single competitor's own listing, but no headquarters, brand line or transaction of its own is confirmed against a primary source, so its row carries the name only and no invented detail.

Who Makes the Carbon Black Inside a Black Masterbatch?#

The carbon black in a black masterbatch almost never comes only from the company that compounds the concentrate: Cabot is the one producer in this directory that both makes carbon black and disperses it into masterbatch, while Orion Engineered Carbons and Birla Carbon supply the pigment to other masterbatch houses without a black masterbatch line of their own that our source library has verified.

Table 3. Carbon black producers behind a black masterbatch.

Producers named in our source library; the full grade and dosage detail sits on the carbon black in plastics substance page.

How Do You Choose a Black Masterbatch Supplier? 8 Specification Checks#

Comparing two black masterbatch quotes takes 8 checks, and only the first one is about the company: the other seven are about the pellet, the carbon black inside it and the paperwork that travels with it.

1. Identify the carbon black grade and particle size. Ampacet's pipe-compound guidance names N550 (40 to 48 nm) as generally sufficient for standard service, and N330 (26 to 30 nm) or N110 (below 20 nm) for parts exposed outdoors longer than 3 to 5 years; finer particles are harder to disperse.
2. Read the carbon black loading. The North American standard for pressure applications is 35 wt%, and masterbatches above 40 wt% are avoided because dispersion becomes unreliable at that concentration.
3. Fix the let-down ratio and its convention. Pipe-grade black masterbatch runs 5 to 6.5% (19:1 to 14:1); ask for both conventions in the same document, since suppliers use both, and check both in the let-down ratio calculator.
4. Match the carrier resin to the base polymer. Wax works as a universal carrier, EVA or LDPE suit polyolefins and nylon, and pipe-grade black masterbatch needs an MLDPE or LLDPE carrier with a melt index below 20 g/10 min.
5. Ask for the dispersion evidence by standard number. A microtome rating under ISO 18553 and a producer's own microdispersion scale, typically 1 to 5 with 1 best, reported per lot on about 1.5 mil PE film, are the two forms of evidence to request.
6. Establish the food-contact and drinking-water route. Carbon black carries its own entry in EU and US food-contact law and on the EU drinking-water positive list.
7. Check NIR sortability if the part enters a recycling stream. The APR Design Guide SORT-S-01 treats black or dark colours with an L* below 40, or a near-infrared reflectance of 10% or less, as a sorting failure.
8. Check the restricted-substance and hazard position. Carbon black is not an SVHC and is not on REACH Annex XIV or Annex XVII, but it carries a Proposition 65 listing and an IARC classification that apply to the airborne pigment, not to the pigment bound in a finished part.

Buyers who want the full sequence in one document can download the Black Masterbatch Specification and RFQ Worksheet (PDF) by giving an email, role and company name. The framework for choosing among carbon black, and among every other additive class, is set out on how to select plastic additives; this page starts from the supplier once that class decision is made.

How to check the food-contact and drinking-water route#

Carbon black is one of the few colorants with its own entry in EU food-contact law: it carries a maximum use level of 2.5% w/w in the polymer, with primary particles of 10 to 300 nm, toluene extractables at 0.1% or below under ISO 6209, and benzo(a)pyrene at 0.25 mg/kg of carbon black or below, and the entry carries no specific migration limit. The full Union list and its migration limits are explained on EU 10/2011, FCM No 411 (Ref 42080).

In the United States, 21 CFR 178.3297 lists channel-process carbon black without a numeric limit and caps high-purity furnace black (CAS 1333-86-4) at a maximum of 2.5% by weight of the polymer, with total PAH at 0.5 ppm or less and benzo(a)pyrene at 5.0 ppb or less; a separate section, 21 CFR 177.2600, allows carbon black up to 50% in repeat-use rubber articles. A listing under either route should never be called "FDA approved": it is a clearance, subject to stated conditions, not an approval seal. The full clearance text is decoded on FDA food contact rules.

Black PE pipe that carries drinking water in the EU relies on carbon black being on the European drinking-water positive list, where it carries the same 2.5% w/w ceiling as in food contact. National drinking-water schemes such as NSF/ANSI 61 and KTW are covered separately on plastic additives in drinking-water contact.

How to check dispersion, NIR sortability and the restricted-substance position#

Dispersion, sortability and hazard status are three checks a masterbatch data sheet answers together, and none of them is optional once the part is meant to be coloured, recycled and shipped across a border.

Dispersion is rated microscopically: ISO 18553 is the pipe-industry method for carbon black dispersion in polyolefins, and masterbatch producers additionally report an in-house microdispersion rating, on a scale from 1 (best) to 5, measured on about 1.5 mil cast film for every lot. The methods behind the rating, and what each can and cannot detect, are covered under dispersion testing of pigments and masterbatch.

Black plastic fails near-infrared sorting because carbon black absorbs the same near-infrared light a sorter uses to read the polymer, so the detector sees no spectrum at all rather than the wrong one. The APR Design Guide SORT-S-01 treats black or dark colours with an L* below 40, or an NIR reflectance of 10% or less, as a sorting failure, and Ampacet's REC-NIR-BLACK, COTREP-certified for PP and HDPE rigid packaging, is the one NIR-detectable black concentrate named in our source library. Iron oxide black, copper chromite black and perylene blacks are named alternatives where a carbon-black-free route is needed; the chemistries are compared under NIR-sortable black colorants.

Carbon black is registered under REACH in the 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 tonne per year band, is not on the SVHC Candidate List and is not covered by Annex XIV or Annex XVII. It has been listed on California's Proposition 65 list since 21 February 2003 as "carbon black (airborne, unbound particles of respirable size)" for cancer, and IARC places it in Group 2B by inhalation; a 2011 Canadian screening assessment concluded that continued use, including in food packaging, is acceptable because the pigment stays bound in the polymer matrix.

Under the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, the sum of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium may not exceed 100 mg/kg in packaging or a packaging component from 12 August 2026; carbon black itself is not a restricted substance under that limit.

How Do You Request a Black Masterbatch Quote? 10 Items#

A black masterbatch quote is only comparable when every supplier prices the same pellet, which takes 10 items in the request: the target carbon black content in the finished part, the base polymer and grade with its melt flow rate, the process and the expected service temperature or oxidation-induction requirement, the carbon black grade or particle-size exclusion, the target let-down ratio and the convention used, the carrier compatibility requirement, whether the part will enter an NIR sorting stream, the compliance route required, the annual volume and packaging form, and the dispersion evidence required with delivery.

Send one black masterbatch specification to several verified suppliers with the plastic additive supplier finder, and request an NIR-detectable sample alongside the quote where the part will be sorted for recycling. No minimum order quantity, lead time, packaging size or margin figure is stated anywhere on this page, because our source library holds no verified data for any of them.

Where Are Black Masterbatch Producers Located?#

Black masterbatch production is no more concentrated geographically than the rest of the masterbatch trade: verified headquarters exist for three of the five producers in this directory, in Ohio, Israel and Massachusetts, and the pattern follows the converter rather than the carbon black plant, because pellets are bulky and colour matching is a local service.

Black 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 black masterbatch producer, because a company is listed here only where a primary source confirms at least one of its attributes. Search results for black 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. The verified Indian additive producers, and what they supply, are on plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers in India.

Black masterbatch manufacturers in China and the rest of Asia#

No Chinese black masterbatch producer is named on this page, even though several rank on black masterbatch search queries, because none is verified against a primary source on file. Orion Engineered Carbons and Birla Carbon both supply carbon black across Asia, but neither company's headquarters is confirmed, and neither is described as Chinese on that basis. Chinese capacity by additive category is covered on plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers in China.

What Does Black Masterbatch Cost?#

No black masterbatch price is published anywhere, and the reason is structural rather than commercial: the pellet is made to a carbon black loading the supplier chooses, at a let-down ratio the buyer chooses, so there is no unit two suppliers quote against. The one verified per-tonne driver upstream is the carbon black grade itself: a finer particle size, such as N110 below 20 nm, costs more and is harder to disperse than a standard N550 grade, which is why particle-size selection (check 1 above) is also a cost decision, not only a performance one. What moves the pigment cost behind a masterbatch price is tracked on carbon black price.

The wider set of published price series by substance sits on plastic additive prices; no masterbatch price of any type is published there either, for the same structural reason.

Which Other Masterbatch Suppliers Does a Black Part Need?#

A black part rarely runs on carbon black alone: the same hopper often takes an additive concentrate for the antioxidant package a pipe standard requires, and where the part also needs an accent colour or a lighter shade, a second concentrate entirely.

Table 4. Other masterbatch supplier directories.

Color, white and filler masterbatch suppliers#

Colour masterbatch is let down at a lighter 2 to 4% (49:1 to 24:1) than black pipe grades, white masterbatch carries titanium dioxide instead of carbon black, and filler masterbatch typically carries 70 to 85% calcium carbonate in a PE or PP carrier, a loading high enough to triple melt viscosity before a wax and zinc-stearate package brings it back down. The composition and carrier rules for color masterbatch are on its own technical page; the other two type directories are listed in Table 4 above.

Additive masterbatch and one-stop concentrate suppliers#

Three producers in this directory, Avient, Ampacet and Tosaf, supply black and additive concentrates from the same programme, which matters less for the purchase order than for the arithmetic: two concentrates in one hopper change the total dilution, so the carbon black content has to be recalculated at the new let-down. Segment size and producer data beyond what this directory verifies are on masterbatch market.

How consolidation reshaped the masterbatch supplier list#

One transaction explains most of the confusion a buyer meets on this query: Clariant sold its masterbatch business to PolyOne in 2020 for about USD 1.6 billion, and PolyOne renamed itself Avient, which is why analyst lists published years later still name both companies as masterbatch producers. Avient went on to acquire Magna Colours in 2021 for USD 48 million and DSM Protective Materials in 2022 for USD 1.485 billion. No neutral ranking of black masterbatch producers by sales is published; the ranking we do publish, and its method, is on largest plastic additive companies.

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