www.tritrading.com Issue No. 18- Winter / Spring 2008

I tend to procrastinate writing the cover article for TRI Tradetalk. Our marketing manager, Jennifer Hewitt, takes advantage of modern technology (i.e. Blackberries) to ‘remind’ me every so often. This time, I made a commitment to myself to write the article ‘when it is not raining’. Well, in the interest of time – and getting this done sometime before May with Seattle’s weather, I decided to lower my expec-tations and start writing on yet another pouring day in Seattle. We have not had it as bad as the Midwest (and our thoughts are with you), but 7 and 8 days in a row certainly gets a bit tiring. Accordingly, we try to do our traveling this time of year, so we have the NPRA (San Antonio, TX end March), then Autumn and I are going to the NACD Washington Fly-In in early April in DC and finally we attend the NACD Western Region Meeting in Kona, Hawaii at the end of April. Someone has to do that one!!!

Inside this Issue:Inside this Issue:Inside this Issue: Structured to Service Our Customers’ Needs (continued on page 2)

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TRI Continues to Grow, Nationwide

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TRI Product Positions 2

TRI’s Rugby Legacy Continues

3

Commodity Chemicals Blazing into Summer ‘08

3

TRI Contacts 4

Events and Tradeshow Outlook: Spring/Summer 2008

4

TR Springs into the Tradeshow SeasonTR Springs into the Tradeshow SeasonTR Springs into the Tradeshow Season

Last issue revolved around all the new additions we have had at TRI; and we are pleased to announce everyone is setting in well. Our IT capability is significantly increased by Paris Lockhart (who just informed me he just re-

ceived his B.S. in Computer Engineering Manage-ment from Grantham University – at the age of 30!!!. Congratulations Paris!!!), and Esther Yu and Johnny Gunn have added a touch of excel-lence in our operations department. We are also looking forward to upcoming changes in our OPS

department, finally creating a full time ‘Logistics’ department which will be solely responsible for the movement of our freight; allowing our CSR’s to focus on ‘CS’!! Customer Service!!. Ward Buick, Roy Wilson, and Lauren Hauth (oops, Silverman now! Congratulations Lauren on your recent marriage!!)

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Structured to Service Our Customers’ NeedsStructured to Service Our Customers’ NeedsStructured to Service Our Customers’ Needs

For a complete list of our upcoming events please refer to page 4 or visit

www.tritrading.com to find out more.

Paris and Essex bond as a regular IT Call of Duty at TR’s new home turns into a photo op.

“TRI will be here to solve customer problems during that time, and long into the future.”

Hot ProductsHot ProductsHot Products Ascorbic Acid Benzyl Alcohol Benzyl Chloride

Carbon Black Caustic Soda

Caustic Potash (KOH) Cellulosic Thickeners

Citric Acid Di Propylene Glycol

Dibasic Ester Epoxy Resins

Epichlorohydrin Ethanolamines Fumaric Acid Glycol Ethers

Gum Rosin Hydrocarbon Resins

Maleic Anhydride Pentaerythritol Propionic Acid

Propylene Glycol Rosin Esters

Sodium Formate Tetrahydro Furan (THF)

Titanium Dioxide Triazole Solutions Trichloroethylene

TR and his new family addition “Essex,” a stunning Clydesdale

TRI Exports are Back in BizTRI Exports are Back in BizTRI Exports are Back in Biz Going back to our roots, TRI is increasing its focus on export opportunities. The weakening U.S. Dollar against foreign currencies, combined with the high demand for tight products allows TRI to take advan-tage of our domestic sourcing capabilities and ship products like Ethanolamines, TDI, and Glycol Ethers offshore.

In this rapidly growing economy, we are able to provide our international customers with U.S. manufactured products at competitive prices. Please feel free to contact us with any inquires you may have.

Benzyl Alcohol: Lanxess factory pack drums and bulk. We stock in New Jersey, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Caustic Potash Flakes (KOH): We stock drums and bags in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New Jersey.

Caustic Potash Liquid (KOH): Direct import positions and regular avail-ability in bulk.

Caustic Soda, Beads and Flakes: We have an exclusive import position with bags, supersacks, and drums. 50 lb. bags for U.S. customers. We stock in eight locations throughout the U.S.

Citric Acid USP: Chinese material, available in 50lb. bags.

Epichlorohydrin: First world manufacturer. We stock drums in Houston.

Epoxy Resin: Exclusive import position with Thai Ep-oxy. We stock drums and bulk on the West Coast and in Houston.

Ethanolamines (DEA, TEA, MEA) U.S. manufactured MEA 99%, DEA 99%, TEA 99% and TEA 85% available in drums in Houston and Los Angeles.

Fumaric Acid: (Tech and food grade): Import position. Stock in New Jersey, Houston, and St. Louis.

Glycol Ethers: We stock both drums and bulk material in Houston, New Jersey, and on the West Coast. These are both Propylene based (PM, DPM, PM Ac, DPM Ac) and Ethylene based (EB, EB Ac, EE, EE Ac, etc....).

Hydrocarbon Resin: Exclusive import positions with Yuen Li-ang. We stock in multiple locations throughout the U.S.

Maleic Anhydride, Briquettes: Direct import position with a Korean manu-facturer, 25kg bags. Stocked in warehouses nationwide.

Pentaerythritol : Tech and Mono Grades available. Direct import position. Supersacs and 25 kg bags

Propylene Glycol: USP Kosher and Technical grades, drum stock available in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Sodium Formate: Direct import position. Supersacs and 25 kg bags.

TDI 80/20: This product is regularly available to us. Please call your sales representative for more information.

Titanium Dioxide: Imported, Kerr-McGee technology. Chlo-ride process, selected grades available.

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Finally, we’re sorry to say goodbye to Marjalena Santos (one of the TRI’s first student interns, and most recently a full-time Customer Service Rep). “Mar” has left TRI to pursue opportuni-ties outside of the chemical industry. She will be missed, but we wish her all the best!

Jill Thompson has re-joined TRI, working with Rich McNamara on the East Coast, and handling many of her former accounts. The Seattle office also added to its Customer Service team in March, adding Michelle Ceder-green, who just started as TradeTalk went to press. Michelle joined TRI after 8 years with Votivo Ltd. in Seattle, where she handled key accounts and inside sales.

Welcome to TRI Michelle - and wel-come back to Jill! TRI’s sales force continues to grow as well, with Brian Gilbert joining the TRI team in Berwyn, PA. Brian brings 25 years of experience serving customers in the chemical and paint and coatings industry and many of you will know him from his extensive back-ground with EW Kaufmann Company. He is also a past president of the Phila-delphia Society of Coatings Technology and is the current Scholarship chair-man. Brian will concentrate his efforts on the developing new business for TRI and we are very excited to have his tal-ent and technical knowledge on the TRI team!

TRI Continues to Grow, NationwideTRI Continues to Grow, NationwideTRI Continues to Grow, Nationwide

Issue No. 18- Winter / Spring 2008

businesses as we see how the weak dollar, housing and mortgage crisis and the onslaught of the ‘R Word’ effect us. TRI will be here to solve customer problems during that time, and long into the future. Thank-you everyone for your valued support.

are successfully doing what it takes to learn the nuances of selling for our ‘unique’ organization. Kevin Fuller is doing an outstanding job focusing on our export divi-sion. With the U.S. Dollar recently at Euro 1.56 – we have quickly re-focused on our export business after years of growing and supporting the import side. Kurt Owens has settled in well ensuring our payments and collections are as timely as possible.

Rowland Morgan and Shondra Gar-rigus have literally created ‘something from nothing’ on the procurement/sourcing side and we are on the verge of several key announcements regarding agency/distribution agreements we have signed.

Finally, we all have to be flexible in our

Structured to Service Our Customers’ Needs Structured to Service Our Customers’ Needs Structured to Service Our Customers’ Needs Continued from Page 1

TRI Product PositionsTRI Product PositionsTRI Product Positions

“Thank-you everyone for your valued support.”

“My goal is to help our customers create a better

product”.

We Solve Customer Problems! Contact TRI now to find out more

about how we can service your needs or visit www.tritrading.com.

Brian Gilbert and his wife, Cathy in Puerto Rico for the NACD

Jill Thompson (left) and Michelle Cedergreen (right) join to TRI Operations team.

It is with reservation that we congratu-late the Chicago Lions Rugby Club on winning the National 7’s Rugby Cham-pionship a few months ago. Of course, here in Seattle we have up close and personal ties to Old Puget Sound Beach Rugby Club (OPSB). However, it is without any reservation at all that I con-gratulate one of our sales reps, Austin Britts, who was named MVP of the na-tional championship tournament (see photo). And finally, it is with no mod-esty whatsoever that I mention Austin is not the first TRI employee to win this award. His boss (Anthony “TR” Rid-nell) likes to remind him that he won the same award 18 years ago (1990) when OPSB won 4 national titles in 5 years.

TRI’s Rugby Legacy ContinuesTRI’s Rugby Legacy ContinuesTRI’s Rugby Legacy Continues

watched very closely as the rumor is that many Chinese facilities will be shut down to help alleviate local pollu-tion issues.

Glycol Ethers – Propylene-based GE’s have been moving upward based on the PO shortage and Propylene in-creases. TRI has a regular stock list of most of these products in bulk and drums.

Our suppliers of Hydrocarbon Resins were amazed that Naphtha pricing had remained at their current levels for so long, but we are now really starting to see pressure from them to raise prices in the marketplace. We are doing our best to mitigate and plan for these in-creases, but with Crude at over $100/bb this will be a challenge. A major North American manufacturer just announced a $0.09/lb increase. We continue to stock and supply quality C-9 resins.

“We will always do our best to work in partnership with both our customers and suppliers to create a solution to these most interesting mar-ket conditions. We look forward to an-other fun summer in the global chemical industry.”

As a commodity chemical distribution company, TRI works very hard to stay on top of the global market. Macroeco-nomic issues effect the chemical indus-try as much, if not more, than any other business I can think of. Crude has gone over US$100/bb, the U.S. Dollar con-tinues its weakening, housing in North America is struggling, gasoline and diesel are at all time highs. We see raw material costs continuing to put pres-sure on our manufacturers. Demand is suspect, but reasonable. While some segments are anemic, we have other customers just booming.

As mentioned in our last article, we are still seeing continued discipline by ma-jor manufacturers to keep supply/demand in balance. If anything, prod-ucts are tighter now than after the sum-mer. This could make for a very inter-esting summer if demand does pick up. Propylene Glycol – PG is certainly balanced. All manufacturers are find-ing difficulty raising prices even as PO has gotten more expensive. We have seen a definite slow-down in production and expect the summer to be a chal-lenge for our customers. April will most likely be the breaking point. With a large increase proposed in the U.S., it will be interesting to see whether the buyers or sellers win this fight. We are pleased to announce SKC, Co. has ap-

pointed TRI as their agent and distributor for selling and marketing products on the West Coast. We currently stock drums on the West Coast and direct ship throughout the U.S.

Caustic Soda, Micropearls have had a normal summer, with a typical seasonal slowdown, but we are worried about global supply. The weak dollar and better netbacks in Asia put pressure on the U.S. supply chain. Prices have taken one in-crease already in Q1 and we expect to see another bump up in price in Q2. Supplies are limited so please communicate with your sales representative.

Benzyl alcohol remains very snug after almost a year. With almost no U.S. pro-duction, we are relying on imports to sus-tain the majority of the U.S. industrial application businesses. TRI feels ex-tremely fortunate to be partnered with the largest Benzyl Alcohol supplier, LANXESS. Still, we are dealing with extended lead-times and limited supply on this item. Toluene and the weak dollar will continue to put pressure on prices throughout 2008.

Citric Acid – Chinese supply has gotten tight and expensive. We have seen a 40% increase in selling prices over the last quarter. North American inventories have certainly gotten shorter over the last few months. As we get close to the Beijing Olympics, this situation should be

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Commodity Chemicals Blazing Into Summer ‘08Commodity Chemicals Blazing Into Summer ‘08Commodity Chemicals Blazing Into Summer ‘08

TRI’s Austin Britts (above, front row & center) helps lead the Lions to their

first ever national Sevens Title.

Issue No. 18- Winter / Spring 2008

Rowland Morgan VP - Distribution

OPSB Rugby, 4 national titles in 5 years, TR (above, back row & center) won the same MVP

award in 1990.

Austin (right) blowing by the competition! TR (left) taking charge!

All information in TRI Tradetalk is as accurate as possible. Any errors are accidental and unintentional. If you notice an error, please contact us and we will correct it immediately.

Midwest Sales

John Godina Sales Manager john@tritrading.com phone (630) 762-0764

Austin Britts austin@tritrading.com phone (630) 225-0714

Southeast Sales

Roy Wilson Industry Manager roy@tritrading.com phone (601) 584-0816

Ward Buick Sales Manager ward@tritrading.com phone (678) 482-1982

ChemBlend of America

Lauren Silverman Blending Sales lauren@chemblend.net phone (630) 521-1600 fax (630) 521-1616

East Coast Sales

Rich McNamara Sales Manager rich@tritrading.com phone (609) 859-8175

Brian Gilbert brian.gilbert@tritrading.com phone (610) 324-1196

East Coast Operations

Jill Thompson Operations & CSR jill@tritrading.com phone (818) 762-6025

Dorie Light Operations & CSR Food Additives dorie@tritrading.com Phone (203) 321-2124

TRI Shanghai, China

Stacey Li staceyli@sina.com phone 86-21-52395946 fax 86-21-52395946

TRInternational ContactsTRInternational Contacts

Anthony Ridnell CEO/Owner tr@tritrading.com

Jeff Wright President jeff@tritrading.com

Purchasing

Rowland Morgan VP - Distribution row@tritrading.com

Shondra Garrigus VP - Purchasing shondra@tritrading.com

Sales

Joe Riverman Sales Manager joe@tritrading.com

Kevin Fuller Sales - Food Additives kevin@tritrading.com

Administration

Stacy DeMass Administrative Assistant stacy@tritrading.com

Operations/Logistics

Sandra Fuller Operations Manager sandy@tritrading.com

Esther Yu Operations & CSR esther@tritrading.com

Johnny Gunn Operations & CSR johnny@tritrading.com

IT & Marketing

Paris Lockhart IT Manager paris@tritrading.com

Jennifer Hewitt Marketing Manager jennifer@tritrading.com

Accounting & Finance

Carlos de la Torre Controller carlos@tritrading.com

Kurt Owens Financial Analyst kurt@tritrading.com

Headquarters, Seattle, WA Regional and International Contacts

Events and Tradeshow Outlook: Spring/Summer 2008Events and Tradeshow Outlook: Spring/Summer 2008Events and Tradeshow Outlook: Spring/Summer 2008

March

April

May

June

IPC 2008

International Petrochemicals Conference

Sunday, March 30 – Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Menger Hotel, San Antonio, TX

NACD Washington Fly-In Tuesday, April 8 –

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Hotel Palomar, Arlington, VA

NACD Western Region Meeting

Wednesday, April 23 – Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel Big Island of Hawaii

PittChem Day 2008 Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Pittsburg Hilton & Towers Pittsburg, PA

NWCA Golf Outing Wednesday, May 14 – Friday, May 16, 2008

Sunriver, OR

ACS 2008 Monday, June 2 –

Thursday, June 5th, 2008 Charlotte Convention Center

Charlotte, NC

IFT 2008 Saturday, June 28 –

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Ernest N. Morial Convention

Center, New Orleans, LA

TRInternational Trading Co., Inc. Seattle Tower - 21st Floor

1218 Third Avenue Seattle, WA 98101, U.S.A.

phone: (206) 505-3500 / (800) 761-7717 fax: (206) 505-3501 www.tritrading.com