Vynova confirmed Sunday that it has declared force majeure on caustic soda deliveries from its Runcorn chloralkali plant in the UK, but added that the impact of the move remains under evaluation.
"The FM is valid for Runcorn site only," a company source added. Market sources had said Wednesday and Thursday that Vynova declared force majeure at the facility last week.
One source said the force majeure declaration is creating an ethylene dichloride shortage in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
The chloralkali process is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride. It is used to produce chlorine and caustic soda. The chlorine produced is used to make EDC and then vinyl chloride monomer by combining it with ethylene. This VCM is then polymerized to produce PVC.
