Alastian, the first web-based business channel for polyolefins, is now available in Turkey.

Alastian is a new business model that is designed for polyolefins customers who are very familiar with the polyolefin products they use and who require little or no technical service from their resin supplier. Alastian offers a selected range of Basell polypropylene and polyethylene grades at competitive prices. Speed and convenience are among the key attributes of Alastian, which makes order placement possible 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

”Turkey represents one of the fastest-growing markets for polyolefins,” said Ian Dunn, president of Basell International. “We believe that the unique offerings of the Alastian business channel, coupled with our local European supply resources, can help us to more effectively meet the needs of the country’s customer base.” Dunn added that the launch of the service in Turkey is the first step in the expansion of the business model to other regions outside of Europe and North America.

Basell introduced Alastian in Europe in April 2004 and it became available in North America on October 1. The main application sectors served by products sold through Alastian include injection moulding, textiles, small blow moulding and blown film. Alastian provides customers with reliable supply and the confidence that they are purchasing Basell quality polyolefins. In addition, Alastian customers are eligible to benefit from an online volume discount starting with the first purchase.  Free customer support is available through e-mail and over the phone – other services such as on-site support and extended credit terms are available for a fee.

”With Alastian, we are meeting a need in the market that has been previously unmet,” said Niels Nielsen, General Manager for Alastian in Europe. “We discovered that users in the commodity part of the market had developed such expertise that they simply no longer required the support and other extras that were priced into the classic business model. We decided to ‘unbundle’ our offering and allow our customers to choose what they pay for. We are servicing more than a thousand customers in Europe alone, many of whom have never dealt with Basell before, and the list is growing every day.”

Registration information and Alastian terms and conditions are available at www.alastian.com. Registered customers can view prices and product availability in real time.

Alastian operates in parallel with Basell’s direct sales polyolefins business, which continues to offer a full range of products and services.

Business Contact: Visit www.alastian.com or call the Basell Turkey Liaison Office at: +90 216 467 3990/991/992.

Media Contact: Michelle Harrell at +1 410 996 1366 or +1 302 438 6574 or michelle.harrell@basell.com