INEOS ChlorVinyls to stop production at three plants in UK, Germany

18 January 2013 10:16  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--INEOS ChlorVinyls will discontinue production at three plants in the UK and Germany due to difficult economic conditions, it said on Thursday.

The Switzerland-headquartered chlor-alkali producer said the move followed an internal asset review in light of the impact of the prolonged economic downturn on European market demand.

INEOS ChlorVinyls will focus all UK polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production at its Newton Aycliffe site, which will mean the closure of its small-scale PVC unit at Runcorn, the company said. The Runcorn unit has a capacity of 105,000 tonnes/year, according to ICIS data.

The company will also reconfigure its Runcorn vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC) intermediate for internal use.

In Germany, the company will bring forward the closure of its mercury chlorine cellroom at Wilhelmshaven.

As demand for PVC in particular continues to be very weak, the company said it needed to address its current overcapacity in chlorine, VCM and PVC.

"We are taking these measures in light of current and expected economic conditions impacting demand across Europe,” said company CEO Chris Tane.

“We are confident these measures, along with other ongoing improvement initiatives, will help secure our business in the long term by improving profitability and cashflow during these very difficult times," he added.

The company said it expects to achieve the changes without involuntary redundancies, and employees and their representatives will be kept fully informed as matters progress.

By: Glynn Garlick

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