Plastic Additive Supplier Finder: Request Quotes for 43 Additive Families

The plastic additive supplier finder turns 9 fields into one request for quotation and sends it to the additive manufacturers, masterbatch producers and distributors that make the grade you need. A quote is only as good as the specification behind it, so which 9 fields decide whether a supplier can price your enquiry at all?

The finder covers 43 additive families and 435 substances, spans 27 additive-category supplier directories, and reaches every route to market from the additive manufacturer to the regional distributor. Every match draws on the plastic additives database that backs this site, the request costs nothing to submit, and no supplier pays to be matched to it.

What the Plastic Additive Supplier Finder Does#

The supplier finder does 3 things: it matches a specification to the companies that make that additive, it builds a complete request for quotation from 9 fields, and it sends one request instead of nine separate emails. Behind every match sits the same supply chain that moves an additive from raw material to finished part: raw-material and mineral producers supply additive manufacturers, which sell to masterbatch and compound producers and to distributors, and each layer can answer a request directly. Which additives and which kinds of supplier sit inside that match?

The finder draws its scope from the same evidence base as the rest of the site. The European Chemicals Agency's Plastic Additives Initiative mapping exercise lists 418 additives registered in the EU above 100 tonnes per year, with pigments accounting for 127 of those entries, and that population is the practical definition of which plastic additives move in commercial volume. Every family covered on plastic additives carries its own dosage range, regulatory matrix and supplier layer, so the finder never asks a buyer to specify more than the family's own page already explains.

Which additives and supplier types the finder covers#

The finder covers 43 additive families and 435 substances, from plasticizers and flame retardants to slip agents and laser marking additives, and 4 kinds of supplier: additive manufacturers, masterbatch producers, compounders and distributors. Each supplier type sells a different layer of the same supply chain:

• Additive manufacturers synthesise or mine and process the additive itself, from the base chemistry to the finished grade.
• Masterbatch producers sell the additive as a concentrate in a carrier resin, dosed by let-down ratio rather than sold as the neat substance.
• Compounders sell ready-to-mould compounds and, for some additive packages, one-pack systems that combine several functions in a single pellet.
• Distributors resell manufacturers' products in smaller lots, mixed orders and local stock.

Each of the 435 records in the plastic additives database carries its CAS number, dosage range and regulatory status, so the finder can match a CAS number or a trade name to the right family before the request ever reaches a supplier.

How to Request Quotes in 4 Steps#

Request quotes in 4 steps: identify the additive by its CAS number, convert your dosage into an annual quantity, set the compliance requirements for each target market, then compare every reply against the same 6 documents. Each step maps to one part of the RFQ specification, in the same order as Table 1 below.

1. Identify the additive by its CAS number or by additive family. If the family is not fixed yet, start with how to select plastic additives; the additive finder by polymer and function filters candidates by host polymer, and the plastic additive CAS number lookup confirms identity once a trade name is on the table.
2. Convert your dosage and annual compound output into an annual additive quantity, using the formula set out in the fields section below.
3. Set the compliance requirements for every market you plan to sell into, since the target market decides which positive list applies to the grade.
4. Send the request and compare every reply against the same 6 documents, so no quote is priced against a different specification than the others.

The 9 fields carry through from the form into every supplier's inbox in the same order, so replies stay comparable line for line rather than requiring a second round of clarifying emails.

What a Plastic Additive RFQ Must Contain: 9 Fields#

A plastic additive request for quotation contains 9 fields: the additive or CAS number, the host polymer, the application, the annual quantity, the physical form and packaging, the target markets, the compliance requirements, the delivery destination and the contact details. The host polymer decides which additive package applies: flexible PVC carries 5 to 65 wt% plasticizer, PVC heat stabilizers run 2 to 4 % of the formulation, and PE pressure pipe carries 2.0 to 2.5 wt% carbon black. The package a given polymer needs is worked through on additives by polymer, and a supplier cannot price a kilogram without knowing which band applies.

The application decides the legal regime rather than the chemistry. A food-contact lid, a toy component and a drinking-water pipe fitting moulded from the same resin can each carry a different positive list and migration limit, since legal limits follow the end use, not the polymer. That logic is listed under plastic additives by application, and the target-market field narrows it further, since the EU Union list and the US 21 CFR sections do not always clear the same substance.

How much additive do you need per year?#

Annual additive demand in tonnes equals your annual compound output in tonnes multiplied by the dosage in wt% and divided by 100, so 5,000 t/yr of compound at 0.2 wt% needs 10 t/yr of additive. Three formulas cover every dosage unit a technical data sheet uses:

1. Annual additive demand (t/yr) = annual compound output (t/yr) x dosage (wt%) / 100.
2. From phr: wt% = phr of the additive / sum of all phr x 100.
3. From ppm: wt% = ppm / 10,000.

The Plastics Pipe Institute's TR-2-2023 worked example shows the phr conversion in practice: a rigid PVC pipe formulation with a total of 108.03 phr resolves to 92.57 wt% PVC, and a calcium carbonate filler dosed at 5.00 phr becomes 4.63 wt% of the compound. Applied to volume, 5,000 t/yr of that pipe compound at 4.63 wt% calcium carbonate needs 231.5 t/yr of filler, while the same 5,000 t/yr compound at 1,000 ppm of a slip additive needs only 5 t/yr, since ppm-level dosage moves a far smaller mass than a phr-level filler. The full PHR (parts per hundred resin) conversion, including the let-down and ppm shortcuts, is worked through in detail on its own page.

Do you order the neat additive or a masterbatch?#

Order a masterbatch when the additive is dosed below about 1 wt%, because gravimetric feeders lose accuracy at ppm level, and order the neat additive when you compound it yourself on a twin-screw line. A masterbatch carries the additive as a concentrate at 40 to 65 wt% active content in typical grades (extremes 15 to 80 wt%), let down into the base polymer at 1 to 5 % (25 kg per tonne equals 2.5 %).

Pipe compounding shows both ends of that range: a standard black pipe masterbatch holds 35 % carbon black let down at 5 to 6.5 % (19:1 to 14:1), giving 1.75 to 2.3 wt% carbon black in the finished pipe, while a coloured pipe masterbatch runs a 2 to 4 % let-down (49:1 to 24:1). Masterbatch demand in t/yr equals the active additive demand divided by the masterbatch's active content as a fraction, and the let-down ratio calculator converts that ratio in both directions.

Which physical form and packaging do you need?#

Name the physical form and the packaging unit in the request, because the same antioxidant ships as a powder, as dust-free granules or as a liquid, and the form decides feeding accuracy and dust exposure rather than the chemistry. Songwon labels its grades PW (powder), FF (free flow), DF (dust free flow), FG (fine grind), SB (semi-beads), DW (dispersion), CP (crystalline powder), SL (solid), LQ (liquid or molten) and GR (granules); the codes describe one company's convention, not an industry standard. Baerlocher's R granules are free-flowing with low dust for silo storage, and its SMS flakes and TX pastilles are dust-free melt products.

Packaging follows the same supplier-specific pattern. Songwon's standard units are:

• 20 kg PE bags or 500 kg big bags for solids
• 20 kg aluminium-coated bags for moisture-sensitive phosphites
• 200 kg steel drums, 900 kg IBCs or 20 t ISO tanks for liquids
• 50 kg fibre drums for the US market and selected products

Every form and packaging unit here is attributed to the named supplier's own literature; the additive product forms comparison collects the fuller set.

Which Type of Supplier Should You Ask?#

Ask the additive manufacturer when your annual demand runs into tens of tonnes and you need the grade documentation first-hand, and ask a distributor when you need a few hundred kilograms, mixed items or short lead times. The choice runs down the same supply chain that starts at raw-material and mineral producers, continues through additive manufacturers and masterbatch or compound producers, and ends at the distributor who breaks bulk into smaller, mixed orders; each layer can answer a request for quotation, but each one answers a different volume.

Two distributors illustrate the scale of that route. Brenntag, headquartered in Essen, reported revenue of EUR 16.8 billion in 2023 from more than 600 locations across 72 countries. Univar Solutions, based in Downers Grove, Illinois, acquired Nexeo in March 2019 and was taken private by Apollo in August 2023 at an enterprise value of USD 8.1 billion. IMCD and Azelis operate as European specialty distributors in the same space, though this reference does not yet carry sourced figures for their revenue, site count or portfolio.

The directory of plastic additive manufacturers and suppliers lists company profiles by additive category, and the table below sets out which route to ask for a given order.

Supplier Directories by Additive Category#

27 supplier directories cover the additive categories that generate most sourcing demand, from masterbatch and PVC stabilizers to titanium dioxide, carbon black, plasticizers and flame retardants. Each directory lists the manufacturers, masterbatch producers and distributors active in that single category, and the table below is the only place on this page that links to them.

Four directories cover suppliers by region rather than by category: an India directory is live today, and directories for China, the United States and Europe follow later in the publication schedule.

Which Documents to Request With the Quote#

Request 6 documents with every quote: the safety data sheet, the technical data sheet, a certificate of analysis for the offered grade, the EU declaration of compliance with Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, the US food-contact clearance reference, and the REACH registration number of the supplying legal entity. EU 10/2011 ties the declaration of compliance to the Union list entry (its FCM number) and the substance's specific migration limit; the generic migration limit is 60 mg/kg, the overall migration limit is 10 mg/dm2 (60 mg/kg for infant food), and every declaration must state which polymer, food type and temperature it was tested for.

A REACH registration is filed per legal entity and per substance, so "REACH registered" is a claim about the registrant, never the molecule on its own; ask for the registrant's name, not just the word "registered". The additive regulatory status checker can screen a grade against these three regimes before the quote arrives.

The US route runs on a different mechanism. A Food Contact Notification is proprietary to the company that filed it, so the supplier, not the molecule, decides whether a grade is covered. FCN 2211 covers calcium tert-butylphosphonate up to 0.15 wt% in polyolefins for Milliken alone, and FCN 2357 covers disodium N-benzoyl-L-aspartate up to 0.3 wt% in PP for ADEKA alone; a competitor's grade needs its own notification or a different basis, such as 21 CFR 178.2010 or 178.3740. The FDA food contact rules page maps every notification and 21 CFR route by family.

How Suppliers Are Listed and Why the Finder Is Free#

No supplier pays to appear in this finder: the matching order follows the additive category and the evidence in our company records, and every matched supplier is told which specification produced the request. Company facts on this site, such as plant locations, revenue figures and acquisition dates, come from dated primary sources, and the editorial policy sets out how those sources are checked and corrected when they change.

The finder earns its keep from display advertising and from matching buyer requests to suppliers, not from ranking one supplier above another for a fee. This is the same independence rule that governs every page on the site: no substance page, family hub or supplier directory carries sponsored placement, and the About PlasticAdditives.net page explains who builds and maintains the reference behind it.

Why Do Quotes for the Same Additive Differ?#

Quotes for the same additive differ for 4 reasons: the grade is not identical, the supply route is different, the compliance package is different, and the raw material behind the additive has its own price cycle. The market itself is never one number: analysts value the global plastic additives market from USD 43.5 billion (2023, MarketsandMarkets) to USD 63.71 billion (2025, Precedence Research), with Ceresana putting 2023 volume at 36.7 million tonnes, of which fillers account for more than 19.5 million tonnes and plasticizers for more than 8 million tonnes.

No price per kilogram is published on this page. Only USGS unit values and this site's own trade-statistics figures carry a price, and they sit on plastic additive prices; the analyst spread behind the plastic additives market range is explained on its own page.

Are Chinese and Indian suppliers equivalent to branded grades?#

The answer depends on the document set rather than on the country: an Asian producer can hold the same REACH registration and the same food-contact clearance as a European one, and the difference shows up in purity, volatiles, yellowness and batch-to-batch consistency rather than on the label. More than 400 additives are registered in the EU above 100 tonnes per year, and since REACH registration runs per legal entity, a Chinese or Indian producer selling into the EU needs its own registration or an only representative, the same rule a European manufacturer follows.

Two regional producers illustrate the scale involved: Rianlon, headquartered in Tianjin and founded in 2003, runs 6 production bases, and Fine Organics, based in Mumbai, has worked in oleochemistry since 1971 across more than 450 products. Producers in both countries are profiled on plastic additive suppliers in India, and the plastic additive suppliers in China directory covers the equivalent manufacturers.

Which plastic additives carry a supply risk?#

3 additive groups carry a visible supply risk: antimony trioxide, whose feedstock averaged USD 25 per pound in 2025 against USD 10.24 in 2024 after China introduced export licences in August 2024, brominated flame retardants, which depend on bromine supplied 83 % from Israel, and any additive whose listing under the Stockholm Convention ends its production.

• Antimony trioxide: feedstock peaked at USD 27.50/lb in June 2025, world mine production reached 110,000 t in 2025 (China 40,000 t), and China banned antimony exports to the United States in December 2024.
• Brominated flame retardants: bromine's leading global use, US import unit value USD 2.70/kg in 2024, 83 % sourced from Israel.
• POPs-listed additives: UV-328 entered Stockholm Convention Annex A in 2023, EU limits falling from 100 mg/kg (2025) to 1 mg/kg (2029); a new PFAS restrictions decision or POPs listing can end production on a similar timeline. The EU's universal PFAS restriction is still pending, not in force.

Do you need the original brand or an equivalent grade?#

Ask for the brand when the qualification file names it, and ask for an equivalent when the specification names a function and a limit, because the brand and its owner change more often than the molecule does: Irganox reached BASF only when the Ciba acquisition completed on 9 April 2009, at CHF 50 per share and an enterprise value of CHF 6.1 billion. The same pattern repeats: Lanxess completed Chemtura on 21 April 2017, Sudarshan completed Heubach on 3 March 2025, and Syensqo listed as an independent company on 11 December 2023.

This reference does not publish cross-supplier equivalence pairs; confirm any claimed equivalent against both technical data sheets before substituting it. The plastic additive trade name lookup cross-references a name against its current owner, and current ownership across the industry is ranked on largest plastic additive companies.