Some people inquired about "our" RA-4 kit. It has vanished because we did not mix it. Rather we filled it from 200 Liter barrels. The supply dried up due to our supplier exiting the photographic market. We calculated a remanufacture but if we sourced all chemicals and mixed them ourselves we can never compete with TT´s or Fujis current prices. There was another interesting information in the PetaPixel articel. This was also not completely correct but the logic behind it works the same way. If you reach certain thresholds you need to comply with REACH which is a eurocratic monster and prohibitive for most markets and products, especially those who are very competiviely priced as everything in the imaging world is. Chemical regulation leeds in this respect to a natural monoply. In the artilce was disclosed that there is a duopol between TT and Fuji on the CD´s because they shared the REACH registration. This makes me wonder how others do it. They either manufacture small amounts and will be limited in growth/economies of scale or are tapped onto TT. In my opinion one can never really compete. This is a nice asset in TT.
So in a nutshell: The ADOX´s, Bellinis and others can secure supply for all amateurs and enthusiasts but only TT and Fuji can make enough color chemistry for all large finishers. This is why we need them and this is -among personal reasons- why ADOX will do everything to support TT in this respect rather than "taking a chance" in C-41/E-6 now.
Mirko