Specialty chemicals group makes a big impression with basic chemicals

LANXESS wins another award

Syngenta Supplier Award 2008 presented to the Basic Chemicals

business unit

Leverkusen – On June 17, Swiss-based Syngenta Crop Protection AG,

one of the world’s leading manufacturers of crop protection agents,
presented the Basic Chemicals business unit of LANXESS AG with the
Supplier Award 2008 for an outstanding standard of service. This is the
second time that the specialty chemicals group has won the award. Two
years ago, the group’s fine chemicals subsidiary received this honor for
its highly skilled technical and chemical expertise and analytical support.
Prior to winning the award, Saltigo GmbH successfully established a
complex, five-stage synthesis involving complex reaction steps and
delivered the first 20 metric tons of product – all within just six months.

This year’s award was handed over during the Syngenta Supplier
Conference in Munich. Addressing the conference, Dr. Hans
Elmsheuser, head of Global Procurement, praised the quality of service
provided by LANXESS in supplying an intermediate to Syngenta
regarding responsiveness and reliability. Due to a dramatic increase in
the demand for a particular crop protection agent, LANXESS was faced
with the task of boosting the supply of a key constituent chemical by a
third in an exceptionally short period of time. “By adjusting process
parameters, we were able to increase production beyond the nominal
capacity of the plant and rapidly supply the volumes that Syngenta
required,” explained Dr. Torsten Hauschild. According to the head of
marketing at LANXESS’s Basic Chemicals business unit: “The rapid
increase in capacity and the successful delivery of the necessary
volumes were only possible thanks to the outstanding creativity shown
by everyone involved.”
Dr. Hans-Georg Schmitt, head of the Basic Chemicals business unit, is
extremely pleased with the recognition LANXESS has received: “This
award is both a great honor and of course an outstanding endorsement
of our performance. However, this does not mean that we can rest on
our laurels. On the contrary – it encourages us to work even harder to
raise the bar still higher. Our experience and our high-quality products
provide the ideal springboard to this end.” Schmitt accepted the award
alongside Hauschild and plant manager Dr. Holger Heidenreich.

The Basic Chemicals business unit of LANXESS is one of the world’s

leading suppliers of high-quality industrial chemicals. Production is
carried out at a total of 16 plants located at the German sites of
Leverkusen, Dormagen, Krefeld-Uerdingen and Brunsbüttel, as well as
in Baytown, Texas, United States and Weifang in China. Aromatic
compounds are a mainstay of the broad product range offered by the
company. The comprehensive family tree of related aromatic, nitrated,
hydrogenated, phosgenated and chlorinated compounds is based on a
union of interconnected production facilities known as the Aromatics
Network. This network, which has been in operation for over 100 years,
comprises the product groups of chlorotoluenes, cresols,
chlorobenzenes, nitrochlorobenzenes, isocyanates, nitrotoluenes and
their derivatives. A core skill offered by LANXESS, which is also the
subject of several patents, is the selective and/or specific creation of
certain positional isomers of these aromatics.

The Basic Chemicals business unit is also a leading producer of

amines, amino alcohols, benzyl derivatives, hydrazine hydrate, oxidation
products such as phthalic anhydride and maleic anhydride and polyols
such as trimethylolpropane and hexanediol. The business unit’s portfolio
also includes inorganic basic chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid,
sulfur-containing products such as sulfuric acid and oleum, sodium
bisulfite and thionyl- and sulfurylchloride.

The Basic Chemicals business unit belongs to the Advanced

Intermediates segment, which achieved total sales in 2007 of EUR
1,204 million.

LANXESS is a leader in specialty chemicals with sales in 2007 of EUR 6.61 billion and
currently around 15,200 employees in 21 countries. The company has operations at 44 sites
worldwide. LANXESS’s core business comprises the development, manufacture and sale of
plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

Leverkusen, June 2008

bol (2008-0118E)

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and
forecasts made by LANXESS AG management. Various known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future
results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates
given here. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking
statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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