MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Russian government has been working out issues on liquidation of JSC "Khimprom" (Volgograd ), but the production of emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) is unlikely to be shut down, reported MRC analysts.
JSC "Khimprom" has become unprofitable for the state for several years, and, therefore, the Russian government is considering a possibility of liquidating the company because of its huge debts before the energy sector. Khimprom's representatives are confident that, despite all the problems, they will be able to preserve EVPC production at the plant.
Volgograd "Khimprom"'s EPVC production is highly profitable among the other plant's units. And, even in case of a shutdown of the high-cost (in terms of energy consumption) chlorine and caustic soda units, the company can still preserve its PVC production. Chlorine for the resin production can be procured from a nearby plant - Kaustik (Volgograd), this scheme has been already practiced before. Despite the fact that it will result in increased costs of PVC production, it will still be highly profitable, a plant's spokesman said.
As noted earlier, JSC "Khimprom" is the only producer of emulsion PVC in Russia. The other two plants that prouduced EPVC were a plant in Novomoskovsk ("Azot", Novomoskovsk) and another one in Usole ("Usolekhimprom"), which were shut down several years ago.
RusVinyl (a JV of SIBUR and Solvin) intends to launch modern EPVC production with the capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year. However, even the launch of new capacities will not allow the Russian market to get rid of dependence from imports, as EPVC imports are about 115,000 tonnes (according to the data of 2012).
MRC