São Paulo, 27 – Chlorine production fell 6.7% from January to August in the annual comparison, to 789.7 thousand tons, and caustic soda production fell 7% to 866.3 thousand tons, according to the Brazilian Association of the Industry of Alkalies, Chlorine and Derivatives (Abiclor).
The installed capacity utilization rate was 77.5% in the period, a drop of 7.1% compared to the same period in the previous year.
Domestic sales of caustic soda fell by 8.1% in the first eight months of this year and chlorine sales were 12.3% lower.
The apparent consumption (production + imports – exports) of caustic soda in the year, up to August, reached 1.408 million tons, a decrease of 8.1% compared to the same period in 2015. The apparent consumption of chlorine fell by 6.6% over the previous year, reaching 793.3 thousand tons.
The association's expectation is that the market will recover by the end of the year and the installed capacity utilization rate will once again show recovery. “It seems that the bottom is behind us, but everyone is still cautious”, says, in a statement, the president of Abiclor, Alexandre de Castro. “There is currently some optimism regarding 2017, but I don’t know if this will be translated into numbers,” he says.
Chlorine and soda are intermediate products used in 16 sectors of activity, such as metallurgy and steel, paper and cellulose, aluminum, textiles, soaps and detergents, food and beverages, water treatment, among others.
