Plant closures: Ascend to shutdown HMD plant in China; Ineos to close phenol plant in Germany

Engineering materials producer Ascend Performance has announced the winding down of operations at its hexamethylene diamine (HMD) production facility in Lianyungang, China.It afds that "this decision follows a comprehensive evaluation of the facility's long-term viability amid evolving market dynamics and regulatory landscapes".

“Ascend has made significant strides improving the business as we continue to focus on driving operational effectiveness,” said Phil McDivitt, President/CEO of Ascend Performance Materials. ”In April, with the support of our lenders, we initiated a financial restructuring process to reduce our debt and position Ascend for the future. As we evaluated the market conditions and ongoing trade disputes, we determined that the LYG production facility is no longer the best way to support our customers in the region. Accordingly, we have made the decision to wind down the facility.”

He continued, “Decisions that impact our people are never easy. The people in our LYG plant showed excellence and dedication in everything they did, and we thank them for their contributions to Ascend, and this decision is not a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the team in LYG. We are committed to supporting our impacted team members, and we are committed to making this a smooth transition process for our customers and partners.”

Ascend adds it will work closely with local authorities to ensure that decommissioning activities meet all applicable environmental and safety standards. The company expects to complete the wind down process over the next several months.

The rest of the company’s Chinese operations, including the Suzhou compounding facility, will continue to operate as usual.

Ascend also said it expects to emerge from the Chapter 11 process later this year.

In other news, Ineos Phenol, the world's largest producer of phenol and acetone, announced its intention to permanently stop production at their site in Gladbeck, Germany. Sky high European energy costs alongside Europe’s punitive CO2 tax policy have combined to leave Europe uncompetitive against imported Chinese production and a global oversupply, it adds.

After carrying out a detailed strategic review, the business intends to permanently exit the Gladbeck site at a date to be confirmed. Europe’s lack of competitiveness has already led to the exit of several downstream consumers of phenol and acetone to such an extent that local demand no longer supports the operation of the Gladbeck site which dates from 1954 and requires significant future investment.

Commenting, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of Ineos said, “This is the consequence of Europe’s total lack of energy competitiveness and the blind devotion to carbon taxation which is leading to a mass deindustrialisation across the continent. Gladbeck is not the first and will definitely not be the last unless the regulators wake up and take action”

Ineos Phenol says it will now enter into consultation with the works council, employees, customers and suppliers to exit the site in a safe, responsible and compliant manner.

The Ineos Phenol plant at Gladbeck has the capacity to produce 650,000 tonnes of product each year, making it one of the largest plants of its kind in the world.

The site employs 279 people directly and indirectly supports over 1, 500 jobs.

The phenol and acetone that the site produces goes into a wide variety of uses

- Front and rear light clusters for cars
- Resins that are essential for printed circuit boards and for the manufacture of wind turbine blades
- Resins for making automotive brake pads
- Solvents for use throughout manufacturing industry

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