Univar has been offering products and services via the Internet for several years.
It closely monitors developments in the field of e-business worldwide. It initiates and develops projects for internal purposes and jointly with partners. To that end, it seeks alliances with customers, suppliers and e-business ventures.

Specific initiatives:
Business-to-business services are continually expanded through the websites of Univar USA and Univar Canada.

ChemPoint.com is an e-distributor of chemical products in North America that focuses on web-related telemarketing of specialty products.

Through chemical distribution in North America, Univar participates in Elemica, the virtual market place for major chemical producers and distributors. Elemica is expanding its capabilities to allow for connectivity in the form that is most beneficial to both Univar's partners and customers.

In 1985 a group of chemical companies and their trading partners joined forces to form CIDX, a trade association and standards body whose mission is to improve the ease, speed and cost of conducting business electronically between chemical companies and their trading partners.

Univar has been a CIDX member for 14 years. During that time we have seen many benefits from electronic standards within the chemical industry, such as our work on EDI messages for MSDS. Seeing the need for a new generation of standards for XML transactions, CIDX began to create the Chem eStandards in 2000. Univar USA started implementing the CIDX Chem eStandards early in 2001 and immediately saw the benefits of a well defined and broadly accepted framework for B2B commerce.

The election of Robert Reimath (VP Information Systems Univar USA) on the CIDX board as of January 2002 brings a chemical distributors' perspective to the organization.