US chlorine production drops to 90% in February

20 March 2008 20:51  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US chlorine production was 90% of capacity in February, down from 94% of capacity in January, according to data released on Thursday by the Chlorine Institute.

However, February's production of 1,089,625 tonnes was 89% if the capacities of chlor-alkali plants in turnaround that month were included, according to the trade group.

Sources said chlorine production spiked in January because producers were building-up inventory in anticipation of several temporary outages at US chlor-alkali plants in February.

The situation was complicated when Olin, the third-largest US chlor-alkali producer, declared an indefinite, system-wide force majeure (FM) on chlor-alkali production in late February due to lightning strikes and mechanical failures.

A critical shortage of chlorine’s co-product, caustic soda, soon followed Olin’s FM declaration, but sources said most producers did not stockpile enough caustic soda to take full advantage of fast-rising prices in March. Caustic soda production amounted to 1,133,250 tonnes in February, according to the Chlorine Institute.

Chlorine production was 89% of capacity in February 2007, according to the Chlorine Institute.

Other US chlorine/caustic soda producers include Georgia Gulf, Formosa, Bayer, Occidental Chemical, Dow Chemical and PPG Industries.

($1 = €0.64)

For more on chlorine and caustic soda visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Greg Holt
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