MOSCOW (MRC) -- France’s Kem One declared a force majeure (FM) on mass and suspension polyvinyl chloride (PVC-M and PVC-S) supplies from its plants in Saint-Fons and Balan sites, France, on October 13, reported NCT with reference to a letter to customers.
A disruption in the feedstock chain for monomer vinyl cloride (VCM) stemming from the interrupted navigation on Rhone River was cited as the reason behind the FM.
As the Saint-Fons and Balan sites cannot be supplied with VCM by barge due to the recent interruption, the company was forced to significantly reduce PVC production at these sites.
Kem One will not be able to supply mass and suspension PVC as scheduled earlier, while it is yet to be known when the force majeure would be lifted. The company is searching for alternative solutions to supply VCM to the abovementioned sites.
Saint-Fons site can produce around 210,000 tons/year of PVC, while the company’s Balan plant has a PVC production of 300,000 tons/year.
As MRC wrote before, in late July, 2020, ferric chloride leaked from Kem One’s (Lyon, France) PVC production site at Berre, France, into the Mediterranean Sea. Several reports quoted then a Kem One spokesperson, who confirmed that the leak came from a storage tank and that the liquid was discharged into the sea via a storm sewer. The company said the incident caused no injuries.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production totalled 718,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, down by 0.3% year on year. At the same time, only two producers managed to increase their PVC output.
Kem One, a fully integrated vinyl production company, was established mid-2012 following the acquisition of Arkema's vinyl products division by the Klesch Group. The company employs 2,600 people at 22 manufacturing sites, primarily in Europe but also in Asia and North America. Europe’s second-largest producer of PVC with revenues in excess of one billion euros, Kem One continues to grow and build on its numerous strengths with a view to becoming market leader for integrated vinyl solutions.
MRC