US East West to run Lion’s SBR plant, resume production in 2 weeks

HOUSTON (ICIS)–East West Copolymer and Rubber will take over operations of Lion Copolymer’s styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR) facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, effective immediately, and production is expected to resume within two weeks, the companies said late on Tuesday.

East West did not elaborate if it had acquired the plant or if it would just take over the operations.

In mid-January, a Lion spokesperson confirmed that the company had a tentative agreement to sell the SBR plant to a firm formed by former CEO Greg Nelson.

Lion announced in December that it would temporarily shut down its 130,000 tonne/year SBR plant because of economic conditions. The facility was idled in late January, according to market sources.

“We are looking forward to resuming manufacture of copolymer synthetic rubber,” Nelson said in a statement. “We expect to begin production within the next two weeks.”

SBR is used to make tyres.

Lion produces ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) at its plant in Geismar, Louisiana, sources said.

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