According to reports, with the global economy slowly recovering, the profitability of the global chlor-alkali industry has also been improved. Since the first half of 2010, chlor-alkali production and prices have risen in an overall manner, and have also eclipsed the bleakest rate of 10 years of economic collapse at the end of 2008. China, as a global emerging country with chlor-alkali production and capacity growth, in 2009 the chlor-alkali industry operating rate dropped to 50-60%, while the US operating rate was only 70% to 80%, and it was reduced to 50% by the end of 2008, last year in Western Europe. The operating rate of the chlor-alkali industry is only 65% ​​to 75%.
Tecnon OrbiChem, a consulting company in the United Kingdom, reported that 38% of global production in 2009 was used for PVC resin production and became the largest demand for consuming. According to statistics, the current global production capacity is approximately 76.7 million tons/year. year. Last year, due to the weakness of the ** and vinyl resin markets, the chlor-alkali industry was not operating at a high rate. The chlor-alkali industry has improved so far this year. The caustic soda market has also shown a tight market. The increase in demand has driven up the price of products and the demand for caustic soda has increased. Because of the active production of alumina pulp and wood pulp and soap for paper production, the demand for alumina and wood pulping industries has grown strongly this year, resulting in tight supply of caustic soda. On the other hand, due to the still weak housing and auto market in the United States, Asian vinyl resin demand is also struggling, so the market demand is still weak. Although the demand for the European vinyl industry has improved slightly this year, progress has been slow.
Several US chlor-alkali company earnings announcements in the second quarter showed that there was a significant increase in chlor-alkali demand in the United States compared to 2009. Olin, a US company based in Missouri, reported that the operating rate in the second quarter of 2010 was 83%, compared with 75% in the first quarter and only 70% in the same period last year. Olin is the third largest chlor-alkali producer in North America, with a total chloralkali capacity of 1.78 million tons per year, second only to Dow Chemical's 3.54 million tons per year and OxyChem's 309 tons per year. PPG Industry has 1.68 million tons/year, ranking fourth. Olin reported that the ex-factory price of ECUs in the second quarter of 2010 included ** and the net price of caustic soda was US$470/ton, which was 7% higher than the first quarter.
Dow Chemical Co. said that if the economic recovery brings housing and auto market demand back to historical levels, it is expected that chloro-alkali demand will continue to rise in the next 12 months. Previously, PPG Industries has announced that it will raise prices again for chlor-alkali products sold in the third quarter. In addition, in order to meet the future market demand for chlor-alkali products, in July this year, Dow announced that it plans to establish a 80 tons/year chlor-alkali facility in Free-port, Texas, with Mitsui, Japan, to produce 880,000 dry tons of DMT annually. Caustic soda. North America will also reorganize its production capacity. Olin pointed out that North American production capacity has been reduced by 2 million tons/year to 13.6 million tons/year in the past year, and production capacity in 2000 was 15.6 million tons/year. From 2000 to 2012, the capacity of chlor-alkali in North America will be reduced by 6.25 million tons/year, and the production capacity will be increased by 2.1 million tons/year, and it is expected to increase by 3.05 million tons/year by 2012.