Biodiesel component firm Setuza faces flood closure

30 March 2006 16:33  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Key Czech biodiesel component supplier Setuza said on Thursday it could suffer a full shutdown lasting for at least a week because of spring flooding.

It was "99 certain" that Setuza would be forced to suspend all production from Thursday evening, company spokeswoman Marie Logrova said.

“Because of the complexities in restarting our biological wastewater treatment plant, the company does not expect to resume output for a week or possibly longer,” she added.

Logrova said there were no current plans to declare force majeure.

Waters, she said, were rapidly approaching eight metres above normal at Setuza, located by the Labe River (also known as the Elbe) in Usti nad Labem.

Setuza is building towards a total capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes/year of rape-oil methyl ester (ROME), an input material for biofuel production. Most of its ROME is exported to Germany.

Flooding has also forced Czech polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer Spolana to suspend production.

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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