It seems that Arkema (Colombes / France; www.arkema.com) is still experiencing difficulties in restarting its VCM line in Fos-sur-Mer / France, which it had been forced to idle a few weeks ago amid icy weather conditions – see Plasteurope.com of 10.02.2012. Sources close to the company said that several restart attempts to date had failed, adding that another try was scheduled for the coming weekend. It thus appears that the force majeure the group had declared for VCM and PVC (from its site in Berre) remains in place, with deliveries to the south of Europe bearing the brunt of the shortage.

As for SolVin (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvinpvc.com) – which also saw itself forced to declare FM for VCM and PVC from its sites in Tavaux / France and Jemeppe / Belgium amid the wintry weather (see Plasteurope.com of 09.02.2012) – the Belgian group reportedly lifted FM again on 17 February. Although Plasteurope.com was unable to confirm reports that the affected lines had been restarted, it appears that output quality remains low. In addition, SolVin is in the midst of switching one of the furnaces at the VCM plant in Jemeppe, as a result of which the site’s 475,000 t/y output will be slashed to half that until the early days of March.