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Raw chemicals in Europe and Italy
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:01 am    Post subject: Raw chemicals in Europe and Italy Reply with quote
Hi all.

Once upon a time in Italy there was a small but great company called Ornano, that produced and sold raw chemicals to the italian (but not only) darkroom addicted. Then, one day, an ugly monster came, bought the company and decided to close the italian factory. So, no more raw chemicals for us or at least no more raw chemicals at fair prices.
Now I'm engaged in the Raw Chemicals Big Quest!!! Smile
I have searched here in Italy and even if it is possible to find the most common chemicals, it is very difficult to find the "exotic" ones (pyrogallol, catechol, phenidone, dimezone-S) or you can find them but with scary prices (I was asked to pay 108 Euro plus VAT for 100gr of Phenidone while Silverprint asks 17 Euro).
In Europe I've found that Silverprint sells them (and at a fair price) but they don't ship chemicals outside UK.
Do you know if there are any other european supplier of raw chemicals?

And, just for my curiosity, do you know why Silverprint doesn't ship outside UK? Is there any law limitation or shipment problem? (I'm asking because I could ask someone to buy for me in UK from Silverprint and then ship to me. But I want to be sure that this will not cause any legal problem to the person I could ask this).

Thanks

Andrea


PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello, Andrea. Just a note about Ornano, they no longer sell raw chemicals but are alive and kicking. They have pre packaged products on their catalog, either for BW and color processing. Smile

Cheers, Marty.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, I find Silverprint's refusal to ship outside the UK nothing but a pain in the ass. Often such things are down to sheer stubborness or can't-be-botheredness. Other EU companies, such as http://macodirect.de/analog-chemistry-c-1_5.html will happily ship wet and dry chemicals, although they don't stock the raw chemistry you're looking for.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:19 am    Post subject: Re: Raw chemicals in Europe and Italy Reply with quote
anbe wrote:
Hi all.
Once upon a time in Italy there was a small but great company called Ornano, that produced and sold raw chemicals to the italian (but not only) darkroom addicted. Then, one day, an ugly monster came, bought the company and decided to close the italian factory.


Uh?
Ornano did never close. They are in business and they are the most environment conscious photo chemical company: they recently built a new factory with zero waste and zero gas exhaust:

http://www.ornano.it/english/e_articolo.htm

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:47 am    Post subject: Re: Raw chemicals in Europe and Italy Reply with quote
anbe wrote:


Do you know if there are any other european supplier of raw chemicals?



Sigma-Aldrich used to be the big European supplier. Although I think that they are an American company. Price will depend upon where the chemical is sourced. So a quick check reveals that 100 g of Catechol costs 30.20 EUR in Italy, 15.30 GBP in the UK and 32.40 USD in the USA.

Note that the price does not scale directly with the amount . Thus 500 g of Catechol costs 82.80 EUR in Italy and 1 kg costs 150.50 EUR. This is because the cost of shipping and packing is disproprtionately high for low value items. It's a few years since I was invloved but, typically, a glass jar containing 100g of Catechol might be packed inside a large volume of vermiculite contained in a sealed metal can. Chemical suppliers are also required to maintain a safety/hazard database for all their chemicals and to supply printed information to customers. This adds to the cost.

An alternative supplier might be Fluka although I suspect that they are now part of the Sigma-Aldrich empire.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Raw chemicals in Europe and Italy Reply with quote
Orio wrote:

Uh?
Ornano did never close. They are in business and they are the most environment conscious photo chemical company: they recently built a new factory with zero waste and zero gas exhaust:

http://www.ornano.it/english/e_articolo.htm

-


Orio, unfortunately, the big company that bought Ornano wants to close the Gorgonzola factory (where the raw chemicals were produced and prepared for the italian market) and keep open only the factory in Benelux (I'm not sure of this location). The news I heard at the end of last year (news confirmed by Fotomatica) were that the employees too in Gorgonzola didn't know their destiny.
The result is that Ornano began to empty its warehouse months ago and now they are not anymore selling raw chemicals. They will continue, anyway, the production of their developers, fixers, etc.

Andrea


PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
As far as I know unionfotomarket www.unionfotomarket.it still has Ornano raw chemicals in catalogue. Their site it's a little cumbersome to navigate, but you can try to see.....
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