Bayer to close two Canadian rubber units, lay off 300
26 April 2002 20:12 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (CNI)--Bayer said Friday it will close a 50 000 tonne/year butyl rubber facility and a 90 000 tonne/year butadiene rubber (BR) unit in Canada this year, cutting 300 jobs in a restructuring of its rubber business.
Bayer said its 55-year-olf Butyl I unit in Sarnia, Ontario will shut down in the third quarter. Bayer said it has been preparing for the closure by transferring butyl production to its newly expanded Butyl II unit which produces halogenated and regular butyl grades. Also at the Sarnia site, the new unit was completed in 2000.
Bayer said market conditions have forced the decision to close Sarnia’s BR unit in the fourth quarter.
Said the company: "The North American butadiene rubber business has deteriorated due to excess BR capacity and insufficient margins."
Bayer said it would concentrate its remaining BR operations at plants in Orange, Texas; Port Jerome, France; and, Dormagen and Marl, Germany.
Jürgen Ick, head of Bayer’s global rubber business group, said Sarnia will continue to play an important role in Bayer's rubber business.
He added: "This means we must continue to make tough decisions in order to remain competitive in a difficult economy and challenging world market. I am convinced we will emerge a stronger, more secure force in the synthetic rubber industry."
Bayer, the Canadian subsidiary of the Bayer Group, has major businesses in life sciences, polymers and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Toronto with a major manufacturing site in Sarnia, Bayer employs 2400 workers in Canada.
By: Mike Sheridan
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