Urethane Blog

More on BASF TDI Outage

February 1, 2018

BASF shuts down U.S. TDI plant as feedstock supply disrupted

FRANKFURT, Feb 1 (Reuters) – German chemicals maker BASF said it was temporarily ramping down a U.S. plant making chemicals for soft foams used in car seats and mattresses after supplies of a raw material were disrupted.

It is not yet clear for how long production of TDI chemicals at the Geismar, Louisiana plant, with annual output capacity of 160,000 tonnes, will be suspended, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The group has declared force majeure, suspending its contractual obligations to customers.

The outage was caused by disruptions at an external supplier of carbon monoxide, a raw material for TDI. A cold spell in the region has also played a role, the spokesman added.

Rival TDI maker Covestro is likely to benefit from the supply shortage, Raymond James analyst Patrick Lambert said in a note. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Maria Sheahan)

https://www.reuters.com/article/basf-tdi/basf-shuts-down-u-s-tdi-plant-as-feedstock-supply-disrupted-idUSFWN1PR0CN

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