BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) told its customers on 9 November 2009 that it had lifted force majeure (FM) for maleic anhydride (MA) from its plant in Feluy / Belgium. A workers strike had forced the group to declare FM on 23 October, just a day after announcing that it intends to close the 115,000 t/y plant by year’s end.

A company spokesman told the newsletter Plastics Information Europe (PIE, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.pieweb.com) that the strike had ended but that negotiations with the workers were ongoing, with no concrete results so far.