Chemical Plant Startups and Closures Keep the Chemical Industry in Balance During August

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- August has been an eventful month for the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) in terms of grassroot plant openings and previously established plant closings. It is expected that four new plants will begin initial production this month. Each of the four plants is relatively small in size, with the number of employees ranging from 11 to 50 people. This is a significant increase over grassroot plant startup activity of July when the industry only saw two new plants begin commercial operation. For more information, see related news article - Two Grassroot Plant Startups Planned for the Chemical Processing Industry.

The four grassroot plants that are set to begin commercial operations by the end of August include a site in Champaign, Illinois by Obiter Research, a lysine plant by NSR Technologies Incorporated located in Decatur, Illinois, a site in Manassas, Virginia by Tosoh America as well as an air separation plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma by Linde BOC which became operational earlier in the month as scheduled.

The new plant startup activity forecast this month is largely being counterbalanced by plant closings. Industrial Info has identified at least three plants planning to permanently cease operations by the end of August. The expiring plants are all larger than the new startups planned for August in terms of employment, ranging from 75 to 130 employees each.

All of the startup and closing plant activity previously mentioned is located in the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast market regions of the United States. Illinois will be home to the majority of activity with two plant startups and one plant closure.

An important part of measuring the success of plant and project activity is tracking the actual startup dates against the delays and cancellations. One such cancellation was plans by Southern Diversified Products to construct a new plant in Hattisburg, MS for relocation. Ultimately the decision was made to stay in their current site after development plans fell-through. Airgas Incorporated has plans to relocate a plant in Nashville, Tennessee to a newly developed site that remains local to Nashville. The new site, which was originally targeted for completion by August 2007, is now on track for a startup date early next year.

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