The price increase of 3-5% comes into effect on 1 August 2009, depending on individual customer contracts.

Ashland says the price increase is driven by the recent, substantial increases in costs for certain key base raw materials.

Ashland announced the start of production of its Aropol® polyester resins and Maxguard® and Enguard® gel-coats in India in May, as part of a manufacturing and marketing relationship between Ashland India Pvt Ltd (AIPL) and Natural Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd (NPPL) of Gujarat.

Ashland Performance Materials is a commercial unit of Ashland Inc, USA.