Acetex sees full return Sat of output at Pardies, France

07 January 2000 16:45  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--Production of acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) at the Acetex plant at Pardies, southwest France is expected to return to normal tomorrow (8 January) after a 10-day strike, a spokeswoman for the company told CNI on Friday.

Canadian headquartered Acetex was obliged to declare force majeure on supplies of VAM and acetic acid on 27 December but the spokeswoman said this had now been lifted after partial production was resumed early on Wednesday morning (5 January). She said output was currently running at around 65-70%.

The plant, located near Biarritz, has a nameplate capacity of 400 000 tonne/year of acetic acid. VAM capacity is 150 000 tonne/year.

Although implementation of the 35-hour week was the initial cause of the strike, an ill-defined 'social problem' in the plant's acetylene workshop led to an indefinite strike being called by a small number of acetylene unit staff, explained the Acetex spokeswoman. She said that without the acetylene unit the whole plant could not operate and Acetex declared a 'lock-out' from 31 December. The spokeswoman said that these problems had now been resolved.

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Author: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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