Page 164 - CW E-Magazine (4-3-2025)

News from Abroad

DOWNSIZING
Huntsman mulls PU plant closures and job cuts

amidst tough market conditions

American chemicals firm, Huntsman, to pay for the services that are rendered high energy costs, overburdening regu-
has said it is planning job cuts and from those, we’ll … be cutting back. lation and excess capacity.
downstream facility closures in its You’re going to see a preponderance of
polyurethanes (PU) business in light of that taking place in Europe,” he added. MDI on the mend
continued market pressures. Mr. Huntsman also said he is seeing
These moves come at a time when a shift around recent price announce-
“We have closed or sold our PU the company’s quarterly losses have ments for MDI, after previous drops
systems houses in Malaysia, Thailand, doubled year-on-year, at $141-mn in in demand resulting from the simulta-
Indonesia and Italy, and announced the the fourth quarter of 2024 compared neous rise in interest rates that slowed
closures of our Deggendorf, Germany to the $71-mn loss made in the same North American construction, the col-
and Kings Lynn, UK locations,” Presi- quarter of 2023. lapse of the Chinese housing market,
dent and CEO Mr. Peter Huntsman told and Europe’s industrial decline and
the 2024 full-year analyst call recently. “The fourth quarter was within our overcapacity as projects announced
expectations as tough conditions con pre-COVID came on stream.
“We have opened global business tinued in our core markets,” Mr. Huntsman
service hubs in San Jose, Costa Rica said. “Despite quarterly volume He now believes there are some early
and Krakow, Poland, and expanded our improvement year-on-year of 5% for the signs of recovery in pricing and margin
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia site. We con- company leading to full year volume returns. “We are seeing publicly reported
tinue to assess our global assets in all growth of 6%, we are yet to see that polymeric MDI prices in China at a
of our divisions as I believe this indus- growth translate into needed margin three-year high,” he said. “Huntsman
try will continue to see consolidation, improvement.” also announced a series of price increases
divestitures and acquisitions. We will in North America, and we have seen
not only look at our cost structure, but Construction and automotive mar- others pushing for similar actions. It’s
also our asset footprint, and I believe kets represent about two-thirds of the challenging to say if these actions will
that we’re well positioned to benefit company’s portfolio, and these remain be successful, and how soon and to what
as demand and pricing recover,” he subdued at the start of 2025, he said, segments they will stick. However, it’s
observed. with China facing economic challenges, fair to say that there are more positive
although its automotive sector is than negative movements in the MDI
“We’ve seen the market change, expected to show modest growth and industry. My personal feeling is that
we’ve seen fewer customers that are overall profitability there to be relatively MDI was one of the first major chemical
demanding the formulations and the stable. In contrast, he described chains to drop, and may well be among
products coming out of system houses, European industry conditions as “highly those that show signs of recovery earlier
and frankly, if customers are not going compromised” from a combination of than other chains,” he pointed out.
Celanese announces engineered materials price increases

Celanese, the US-based speciality products. These price increases will ally, individual grades may be sub-
materials and chemical company, be effective on March 1, 2025, or as ject to higher increases than specified
will increase prices for a range of contracts otherwise allow. Addition- below:
Base resin Brand / material type Price increase in Base resin Brand / material type Price increase in
Asian region ($/kg) Asian region ($/kg)
LCP/PCT Vectra®, Zenite® and Thermx® 0.10 TPV Santoprene® halogenated FR 0.60
LCPA Zytel® 0.45 products
PA 6, 66 Zytel®, Frianyl® and Celanyl® 0.60
halogenated FR products TPC Hytrel® and Bexloy® 0.20
PBT/PET Crastin® and Celanex® halogenated 0.60
FR products PP/PA/ Celstran® US imports/specialties 0.20
Rynite® halogenated FR products 0.30 PBT etc.

164 Chemical Weekly March 4, 2025

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