CES - A Socio-Economic Study on Silicones in Europe

Term	Explanation

Added value	The difference between input value and output sales value attributed to transformation, improvement, transportation and/or marketing activities.

Added value allocated to silicones	The proportion of the added value that is due to silicones in a final product.

Basic silicones	The range of basic silicone materials that are the starting point of the value chain.

Companies/firms	Organisations producing goods or offering services.

End-use applications	Final applications at point of sale, with no further processing as such.

Financial value	The sales price of the material or product at the relevant stage of the supply chain.

Intermediate steps	Activities between raw materials and the final product.

Kt	Kilo tonne, a standard unit of weight equivalent to 1,000 metric tonnes.

Total financial value	The total economic value of financial transactions taking place within the value chain.

Value chain	The vertical process by which value is added at consecutive stages of product transformation from raw materials to final products.

Value of silicones in final products	The proportion of the value of the final product that can be ascribed to silicones.

Stages of Value Chain

Distributors	Companies that transport and sell silicone systems to end-use sales companies.

End-use sales companies	Companies that sell the final product to consumers and/or other industries.

Final products	End-use products for sale with no further transformation. End point of the value chain.

Formulators	Companies that take basic silicones to produce intermediate products.

Indirect companies	Companies that do not use silicones but depend on them in some way for revenue.

Producers of basic silicones	The firms that produce basic silicone products. All major European silicone producers are members of CES.