Adjusted third quarter net income was $36.4 million flat with prior year.
Year-to-date adjusted net income was $121 million or $5.20 per diluted share.
Both adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share were up 22% versus the first nine months of 2020.
Surfactant operating income was down 16% largely due to higher North American supply chain cost, driven by inflation, higher planned maintenance costs and the $2.2 million insurance recovery related to the Millsdale plant in 2020.
Our Polymer operating income was down 12%, mostly due to the non-recurrence of the insurance recovery and the compensation received from the Chinese government in the third quarter of 2020.
Global Polymer sales volume rose 27% and was largely driven by the INVISTA acquisition.
Our Specialty Product business rose by 53%, and was mainly due to order timing differences within our food and flavor business.
Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on Stepan's common stock $0.335 per share payable on December 15, 2021.
With this 9.8% increase, Stepan has now increased and paid its dividend for 54 consecutive years.
The Board also authorized the Company to repurchase up to $150 million of its common stock, further demonstrating our commitment to deliver stockholder value through disciplined capital allocation.
Adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2021 was $36.4 million or $1.57 per diluted share, basically flat versus the third quarter of 2020.
Adjusted net income for the quarter exclude deferred compensation income of $1.1 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared to deferred compensation expense of $2.6 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the same period last year.
The Company's effective tax rate was 20% for the first nine months of 2021 compared to 24% in the same period last year.
We expect the full year 2021 effective tax rate to be in the 20% to 22% range.
Surfactant net sales were $388 million, a 16% increase versus the prior year.
Selling prices were up 20% primarily due to improved product and customer mix as well as the pass-through of higher raw material costs.
The effect of foreign currency translation positively impacted sales by 2%.
Volume decreased 6% year-over-year.
Surfactant operating income for the quarter decreased $6.7 million or 16% versus the prior year, primarily due to supply chain disruption impacts and the one-time insurance payment of $2.2 million recognized in the third quarter of 2020.
We estimate the supply chain disruption had a negative impact of approximately $4 million during the current quarter.
Now turning to Polymers on Slide 7, net sales were $199 million in the quarter, up 70% from prior year.
Selling prices increased 44% primarily due to the pass-through of higher raw material costs.
Volume grew 27% in the quarter driven by 33% growth in global rigid polyol.
Polymer operating income decreased $2.6 million or 12%, driven by one-time benefits of $4 million in the third quarter of 2020 and significant supply chain disruptions in the current quarter.
We estimate the supply chain disruptions had a negative impact of approximately $3 million during the quarter.
The Specialty Product net sales were up 15% driven by volume up 9% between quarters.
Operating income increased $0.8 million or 53% due to order timing differences within our food and flavor business and improved margins within our MCT product line.
We had a strong cash from operations in the first nine months of 2021 which we have used for capital investments, dividends, share buybacks and working capital given the strong sales growth and raw material inflation.
We executed a $50 million private placement note at a very attractive and fixed interest rate of around 2%.
For the full year, capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $200 million to $220 million.
We remain optimistic about future opportunities in this business as oil prices have recovered to the $80 per barrel level, and we continue to promote our new cost-effective product solutions that improve oilfield operator ROI and protect their wells.
As discussed previously, we are increasing North American capability and capacity to produce low 1,4-dioxane sulfates.
1,4-dioxane is the minor byproduct generated in the manufacture of ether sulfate surfactants which are key cleaning and foaming ingredients used in consumer product formulations.
This project, along with our announcement today to invest $220 million to build under an EPC contract 75,000 metric tons per year Alkoxylation production facility at our Pasadena, Texas site are the primary drivers of our 2021 capital expenditure forecast of $200 million to $220 million.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers continue to be a focus of our Surfactant growth strategy.
We added 300 new customers during the quarter and approximately 800 customers during the first nine months of the year.
The integration of the business acquired from INVISTA is going well and expect this acquisition to deliver more than $20 million of EBITDA in 2021.
Looking forward, we believe our Surfactant volumes in North American consumer product end markets will continue to be challenged by raw material and transportation availability.

Summary:
Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on Stepan's common stock $0.335 per share payable on December 15, 2021.
The Board also authorized the Company to repurchase up to $150 million of its common stock, further demonstrating our commitment to deliver stockholder value through disciplined capital allocation.
Adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2021 was $36.4 million or $1.57 per diluted share, basically flat versus the third quarter of 2020.
We had a strong cash from operations in the first nine months of 2021 which we have used for capital investments, dividends, share buybacks and working capital given the strong sales growth and raw material inflation.
Looking forward, we believe our Surfactant volumes in North American consumer product end markets will continue to be challenged by raw material and transportation availability.