Caustic soda industry faces headwinds, says IHS

• Autores: Paul. Rackstraw
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 581, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Marzo)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • "Global caustic soda demand from the alumina sector in 2015 was about 10.9m dry metric tonnes (dmt), out of a total global demand of 73.5m dmt - representing 15% of the market," Stein Raae, global business director of chlor-alkali and vinyls at IHS, told IM.

    "In general, IHS has forecasted 2016 to be a challenging year for caustic soda producers, with 2016/17 growth in the world economy having been adjusted down over the last quarters," Raae said.

    "Regional demand effects are connected to the areas where cutbacks have taken place. This relates to South America specifically, Suriname, the US Gulf and the Mediterranean," he said. "But we see a general trend of more caustic soda moving from the US Gulf to Australia this year. This is consistent with an expectation that, when demand disappears, suppliers which are cost competitive need to move their product further afield."