Carbocloro foresees 15% increase in income
Gazeta Mercantil - 06/23/2008
On the eve of initiating the operation of the new line of production that will increase by 40% the capacity of the company, Carbocloro Indústrias Químicas is optimistic as for the increase of sales. But there is a good reason for that. With the good performance of sectors such as civil construction, pulp and paper, basic sanitation and aluminum, the consumption of caustic soda and chlorine is at a high level in the whole world and especially in Brazil, which depends on other countries to meet the totality of its demand. The company, an association between Unipar (50%) and the Occidental Quemical Corporation (50%) is expanding the annual capacity of chlorine by 100 thousand tons, to 335 thousand tons per year. Regarding the production of caustic soda, it will be increased from 112 thousand tons to 375 thousand tons. The increase of production should come into operation in July. According to Mario Cilento, president of the company, there are no firm contracts for the sale of the additional chlorine and caustic soda that will be produced, but the officer believes there will be no problems in the placement of the new volumes in the market. According to the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), between January and May, this year, the international purchases of caustic soda reached 762.17 thousand tons, a volume 32.42% higher compared to the 575.56 thousand tons of the same period of last year. In 2007, the growth of imports was 23.8% compared to 2006, to 1.56 million tons. The company expects a 15% income increase this year, compared to the R$ 772 million (US$ 400 million) registered last year, when there was a slight reduction of 1.78% compared to 2006. The fall, according to the company, resulted from the foreign exchange loss. The income increase is not only based on the increase of the sales resulting from the increase in production. It is also based on the increase of the prices of the caustic soda and chlorine.