Document VKy5Qz0vjqgnEjV2B0bwok4Yo

kHE^R/S DRAFT FOR RELEASE IMMEDIATELY 1976 MONSANTO RAISES PCB PRICES CITES PHASE OUT EXPENSES ST. LOUIS, Nov. 00 -- Monsanto Company said today that effective Jan. 1, 1977 it will increase the price of all grades of its polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) dielectric insulating fluids by about 24 per cent. Monsanto markets PCBs exclusively to the electrical power supply industry for use as fire resistant dielectric fluids in transformers and capacitors. Monsanto announced last month its intentions to terminate the production, sale and distribution of its PCB product line by Oct. 31, 1977. At the same time, the company emphasized that it would have preferred to withdraw even sooner and that it was remaining in the business until next October only because a majority of its customers had indicated they would require at least that much lead time to complete field testing and convert to replacement candidates. According to Monsanto, this protracted phase out program, as anticipated, has produced and will continue to produce certain unique and unavoidable production imbalances and manufacturing variances that make it impossible to operate efficiently. The company said the resulting higher unit costs, combined with many other phase-out-related expenses, were major reasons behind the price increase. -oOo- DSW 338353 STLCOPCB4082186