Petronas abandons PVC

The petrochemical group Petronas has announced that starting in 2013 it will no longer produce PVC as a result of the scarce contribution of the material to the company's value chain. Malaysian workers in the PVC sector are concerned over the possible impact of this decision. The company owns two plants in Malaysia that may be retooled to produce other products with greater added value.
In practical terms, Vinyl Chloride, the company's Malaysian partner, will decommission a plant producing 400 thousand tons per year of VCM and another producing 150 thousand tons per year of PVC. The final deliveries of PVC from the latter facility are scheduled for 27 December. The company also owns a plant producing 100 thousand tons of PVC per year in Vietnam, run by the subsidiary Phu My Plastics. This plant is expected to continue production but will be sold sometime next year. As a consequence, only two PVC producers will be left in Malaysia, Industrial Resins and Malaysia Electro-Chemical Industry Company, with respective production capacities of 150 and 50 thousand tons per year. Domestic annual PVC consumption in the country currently lies in the range of 150-180 thousand tons.