The Notch Blog

Carbon Black World 2026 is being held this week in Shanghai, and Notch will present a keynote address on the Year in Carbon Black 2026. CBW is always a comprehensive, well organized and well attended conference. These certainly are interesting times across all industries, and Notch's paper focuses in part on the challenges of forecasting in an uncertain macroeconomic environment. Hope to see you there.

Orion S.A. today announced it is increasing prices by up to 25% and introducing a variable surcharge to all of its Specialty segment customers. According to a company press release, this action is required because of rising costs, supply chain disruptions and feedstock cost volatility related primarily to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The price increase and new surcharges will become effective immediately, or as contracts allow.

Monolith Corporation (Lincoln, NE) has provided details on its future plans regarding its Olive Creek facility in Hallam, Nebraska. In a LinkedIn posting , Monolith's co-founder and CEO Rob Hanson said, "Following a technological breakthrough in 2025, we optimized our expansion plans for our Nebraska facility. This expansion is grounded in our belief in this technology, in our customers, our Nebraska community, and a relentless focus on manufacturing the critical materials we