Japanese Chemical giant Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. has come up with the decision of permanently suspending operations at its 135 KTPA mono methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Beaumont, US’ Texas.

The decision has been taken considering the challenges faced by the company in managing working capital and maintaining adequate profit margins from its MMA business.

The company's MMA sales were hard hit during the last two quarters (Apr-Sep) because of lackluster demand, especially from the automotive sector. But a major portion of the decline was said to combat by buoyant demand for acrylic sheets which are being popularly used to ensure social distancing and avoiding Covid-19 infections.

The operations at the plant will be temporarily shut by 28 February 2021. The Japanese MMA production stood at around 296.6 KTPA during January-September month, down by about 9.68% from the same period last year. With the plant closure, the company’s net production of MMA and related products will be reduced to 1.71mn tpy.

As per ChemAnalyst, this turnaround may further exacerbate the situation of supply tightness which the Asian market is already grappling with, starting the October month.