PVC Producers Provide New Capacity for a Growing Market

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Producers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) have enjoyed a small but consistent growth in demand over the past few years, making room for several planned capacity additions. Even as the domestic housing market began to slow late last year, demand from international and non-construction markets for PVC remained strong globally, allowing for several capacity additions and even a few new production units. Shintech Incorporated (Houston, Texas) has begun operation of a portion of its integrated vinyls complex in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The first phase includes an estimated 300,000 metric tons per year of PVC, as well as chlorine and caustic soda production. Despite several other planned additions for this market segment in 2009, Shintech appears to be aggressively pursuing the second phase of this complex, which will include doubling PVC capacity and significant expansion of chlor-alkali products.

Later this year OxyVinyls LP (Houston, Texas) plans to complete a nearly $100 million modernization and expansion of its PVC plant located in Pasadena, Texas. Technip Incorporated (Houston, Texas) provided engineering and procurement services for this project, which began construction early this year. OxyVinyls had previously completed portions of this project back in 2006 before putting it on hold, waiting for more favorable market conditions.

Formosa Plastics Corporation USA (Livingston, New Jersey) is underway with a major new specialty PVC unit addition at its Point Comfort, Texas, plant site, which is expected to be complete early next year with an estimated price tag of $300 million. An expansion of their estimated 950-million-pound-per-year PVC plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is under consideration with construction planned for the first or second quarter of 2009.

These major expansions combined with several more of similar value in the United States signal confidence in the PVC for at least the short term. The pace of infrastructure building taking place in international markets remains healthy, presenting what appears to be a continued attractive export market for domestic producers. The price of ethylene feedstock is expected to remain high, although PVC producers have successfully absorbed or passed that along to buyers in recent years. Feedstock costs are not expected to create a greater obstacle for this chemical segment.

View Plant Profile - 1065667 1505790 1013317 1003693
View Project Report - 02005573 01010759 02006164 01010474

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.