Demand for chlorine and soda grows 8% in the country
Valor Econômico 07/26/10
The demand for chlorine and caustic soda, two chemical inputs, had a strong increase in first half of this year and it should continue firm in the coming months in the country. The average growth of the production of those products achieved 8%, driven by the car and PVC resin manufacturing markets, in the case of chlorine, and by the pulp and paper industry, in the case of caustic soda.A survey of the Brazilian Association of the Industry of Alkalis, Chlorine and Derivates (Abiclor) shows that from January to June, the production of chlorine in the country stayed at 675.5 thousand tons, an 8.1% increase compared to the same period last year. In the first half of 2010, the production of caustic soda reached 753.48 thousand tons, an 8.2% increase. "We expect the demand for those two products to remain strong in the second half and close the year with growth of 8%", said Martim Afonso Penna, Executive Director of the Abiclor.
Chlorine, used directly in the production of polyurethane - raw-material used by the car, mattress and PVC industries - has found a captive market, since these sectors, especially the makers and the civil construction, have registered resumption in the demand, after the most turbulent period of the crisis since the end of 2008.
In the segment, the main manufacturers - Braskem, Carbocloro, Dow and Solvay - are the greatest consumers of the products, since they use nearly 90% of the volume produced for the industrialization of intermediate resins, says Penna. Of the total production of 675.5 thousand tons in the first half, only 80.1 tons were sold to third parties. The rest was consumed and stocked by the very manufacturers for the reuse of resins. As it regards caustic soda, the proportion is the opposite. Of the 753.5 thousand tons produced in the first six months of 2010, the sales to third parties amounted to 635.3 thousand tons, while 77 thousand tons stayed with the very manufacturers for dedicated use.
In 2009, the total chlorine production amounted to 1.27 million tons, with the apparent consumption of 1.28 million tons. Regarding soda, the volume amounted to 1.416 million tons, compared to the consumption 2.25 million tons. The sector had to import 888 thousand tons. The demand for these two products has also grown in the international market, especially in emerging countries. An example is China, says Anibal do Vale, President of the Abiclor and also an Executive of Carbocloro, one of the main producers of chlorine in the country. The United States, which have already been a major manufacturer, saw its demand fall on behalf of the global economic crisis, which knocked down the consumption in that country. In Brazil, some companies in the sector, as it is the case of Carbocloro, according to Vale, have made investments to increase the productive capacity to cater to the market.