Currently, affected by the financial crisis, PVC projects are generally declining, which has an impact on the chlor-alkali industry
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Since the financial crisis, chlor-alkali enterprises across the country that possess their own PVC production facilities – according to statistics as of October 2008 – numbered around 65 such enterprises. Of these, those with a production capacity utilization rate of 50% or more accounted for 30%, while those with a utilization rate below 50% made up another 30%; the rest had ceased operations. According to statistics published in the January 2009 issue of \"Chlor-Alkali Industry,\" as of December 30, 2008, around 60 companies were planning to expand or add new capacity for caustic soda production. The scale of this new capacity was quite large, generally around 300,000 tons per year, and it was mostly intended to support PVC production. In most cases, these projects were set to start by 2010 at the latest, or even last year at the earliest. With such a large amount of capacity being planned, if all of it were actually put into use, it would represent an extremely large scale of production. It seems that Chinese companies are moving forward with these projects at a rapid pace, somewhat chaotically; they seem to rush into such projects whenever the market is favorable. Judging from the dates, most of these decisions were made when the PVC market was doing well. I’d like everyone to discuss this: what impact will such a large scale of production have on the chlor-alkali industry? What effects might it have on this sector? This post was last edited by hydhq1978 on 2009-2-27 08:42.]
At present, the products offered by chlor-alkali companies are relatively limited. It’s not clear whether this is due to decisions made by company leaders or considerations related to industry interests; almost all chlor-alkali companies emphasize scale, as if larger scale means higher profits. However, last year, the more PVC (produced via the calcium carbide method) that was produced, the greater the losses for those companies. However, chemical products are still profitable; it’s just that many chlor-alkali companies do not produce them.
Most manufacturers determine the scale of their PVC production based on initial decisions regarding chlor-alkali production. The current PVC market conditions are already having an impact on chlor-alkali production, and this effect will be felt in the East China region as well. It seems this isn’t a technical discussion thread, haha.
The more PVC produced using the calcium carbide method, the greater the losses for enterprises
Last year, our factory had to stop production of PVC, and since liquid chlorine couldn’t be sold, some of the electrolyzers were also shut down. This year, as the situation for PVC improved, liquid chlorine could be sold at higher prices, and the electrolyzers started operating again with increased current levels. However, if we proceed with such large-scale projects, I think the market might become oversaturated, leading to a situation similar to last year. Additionally, the market demand for caustic soda is also a major issue; since some large aluminum plants closed last year, the demand for caustic soda has decreased (based on our factory’s sales data). Therefore, I think we should be cautious before launching further large-scale chlor-alkali projects! Last edited by haining on 2009-3-2 15:30]
Several PVC plants I’ve been involved with are either shut down or operating on a intermittent basis. When international oil prices are high, producing PVC using the calcium carbide method results in losses, which is why production levels remain low. This post was last edited by limingshuguang on 2009-3-6 12:39.]