For the Quarter Ending March 2022
North America
Chlorine prices witnessed a surge throughout quarter 1 of 2022 due to several shutdowns in North America in chlor-alkali plants. A Chlor-alkali plant of Olin with 3 million MTPA capacity in Texas underwent shut down in mid-March. Formosa plastics with a 736 KTPA capacity underwent a turnaround in mid-February. As a result of these outages, the pressure was felt by traders and manufacturers regarding the availability of materials and prices of a product. Prices of Liquid Chlorine were assessed at USD 122/MT Ex-Louisiana in the USA in March. Besides, firm demand for downstream PVC also upheld the offtakes of Chlorine in North America.
Asia Pacific
Liquid Chlorine prices declined in the APAC region due to the strict Covid 19 restrictions amidst resurgence of Covid 19 in several Asian countries in late-February. Under Zero covid policy, disruption in production activity led to the increase in production cost during Q1. However, resurgence of Covid in Asian countries led to limited enquiries from the domestic market. Demand for the product was observed lower than expected in the month of January. Moreover, the market of primary Chlorine consuming chlor-alkali industry also witnessed shutdowns and production cuts in several chemical producing industries in China such as Shanghai which ultimately led the fall in the prices of Chlorine. Price of Liquid Chlorine were assessed at USD 158/MT in the month of March in India.
Europe
Price of liquid Chlorine in the European market observed surge due to the halted production activity and disrupted supplies amidst Russia-Ukraine conflict. The supply shortage of Chlorine due to several production cuts was witnessed in the late-March in the European market. Manufacturers were compelled to revise their offers as a result of reduced availability of material. Moreover, demand from primary Chlorine consuming PVC segment also remained strong in the European market which contributed to the rise in its prices. Prices of Liquid Chlorine surged by nearly 5% in the month of March.
For the Quarter Ending December 2021
North America
As the market dynamics of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and Chlor-Alkali are intertwined, limited production of Chlorine due to low operating rates in several Caustic Soda plant as a repercussion of Ida hurricane since mid Q2 2021, continued to stress the supply of Chlorine in October as well. As the production in several Caustic Soda plants in US remained below the required level, supply of feedstock Chlorine remained restricted. However, after reaching tremendous high in October, prices eventually dropped down in line with the gradual normalcy in production activities and offseason dullness in the demand for PVC. In December, with supply outstripping the demand, Liquid Chlorine prices tumbled to USD 380 per MT FOB USGC in December.
Asia
Increase in demand for downstream Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) resin from pipes and fitting segment for the replacement of ageing infrastructure has caused a significant surge in the demand for liquid Chlorine in October. As Chlorine is produced as a coproduct of Caustic Soda, ample production of Caustic Soda amidst the dull seasonal demand for PVC in India caused a prominent drop in its prices. The agony of ample Chlorine supply further extended when Grasim Industry in India commenced the first phase of its Caustic Soda plant in late October. Amidst the narrowed demand and supply gap, Liquid Chlorine prices in India were assessed at USD 125 per MT Ex-Works Dahej in December. Chlorine market in China also turned bearish on the back of ample availability of downstream PVC in the second half of the quarter.
Europe
Chlorine availability in Europe remained short due to relative reduction in Caustic Soda operating rates due to high energy cost and climate crises. The force majeure by Vinnolit at its Caustic Soda plant further tumbled the availability of its Chlorine in the first half of the quarter ending December. Although the availability started levelling by late-November with resumption in the plant activities, however prices of Liquid Chlorine remained high due to high energy prices.
For the Quarter Ending September 2021
North America
An increment in the prices of Liquid Chlorine was observed in the 3rd quarter of 2021 across the North American region. In the US, 5 PVC plants clustered along the Mississippi River were shut ahead of Hurricane Ida's landfall. Plants that make up to 41% of North American PVC capacity slowly restarted after the occurrence but were hindered by the limited availability of critical industrial gases. At the end of the week starting Aug. 30, Shintech, the largest US PVC producer, also shut down its 1.45 million mt/year PVC unit in Freeport, Texas, due to lack of upstream VCM feedstock. Market experts revealed that they expected prices to spike in the aftermath of Ida's assault during this quarter.
Asia
The Asian market witnessed a steep rise in the prices of Liquid Chlorine during the third quarter of 2021. In India, bullish demand from downstream Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and agrochemicals sector, positively affected the value of Liquid Chlorine across the country. The demand and supply fundamentals remained firm due to the appreciable production of Chlor-Alkali in the domestic market. Thus, in line with the increase in offtakes due to favourable demand, prices of Liquid Chlorine reached USD 108 per MT in India in the month of September. Ample availability of the inventory levels in Q3 helped to cater to the overall demand in the country.
Europe
The domestic market in Europe has been termed as tight by several market participants in Q3 of 2021. Some planned and unplanned turnarounds at various European production sites during Q2 and early Q3 resulted in supply shortages. Demand from the downstream sectors remained stable during the quarter with consistent volume intakes in the wake of economic recovery in major European countries including Germany. In August, the European Chlorine production reached 842 Kilo tonnes and the average daily production during the month was about 1.2% lower than July.
For the Quarter Ending June 2021
North America
Chlorine prices increased effectively due to critical shortage of the material heard across USA during this quarter. The impact of hurricane Laura observed in North America could be still felt as a major fire which disrupted production at Biolab Louisiana plant in 2020 remained disrupted during this quarter too. This plant holds the capacity of around 1.26 million Mt/year of Chlorine which is widely utilised for making chlor-alkali products, disinfectants and vinyl chloride monomers (VCM). The unprecedented fire created a prolonged shortage of Chlorine in the country, which translated into marked gains in the regional prices of disinfectant tablets used for swimming pools in the USA. The quarter also noted Biolab’s plan to establish another plant in USA for Chlorine, however, any official announcement is yet to come from the company.
Asia
The Asian market reported firm sentiments for Liquid Chlorine during this period, backed by firm offtakes from the downstream sectors like PVC and agrochemicals. In China, offtakes from the downstream PVC manufacturers remained abundant throughout the quarter, while the inventory levels were ample enough to satisfy the overall demand in the country. The agrochemical sector was also booming in the meantime, which also supported the overall Chlorine market of the country. While in India, Chlorine prices traced upward trajectory during this quarter backed by consistently high offtakes from the agrochemicals segment, while demand remained robust from the PVC segment. The price of Liquid Chlorine was assessed as USD 80/MT in India during the month of May.
Europe
The European Chlorine market witnessed firm demand from the downstream sectors during Q2 2021. The demand from the agrochemicals sector remained high throughout the quarter, due to seasonal demand from end users. While PVC manufacturers also increased their offtakes due to low and expensive shipments from the global market. In addition, the regional demand from disinfectant segment also remained modest to firm in the meantime. The overall market trend for Chlorine remained up in Europe during Q2 2021 buoyed by strong gains seen across the key producing countries.
For the Quarter Ending March 2021
North America
Key manufacturers of Chlorine stated that they had orderly price improvements for bulk Chlorine from downstream sectors during this quarter. Demand from downstream disinfectants segment rose successively month over month. However, freakish weather reduced the several plants output that reduced the demand for liquid Chlorine from industrial chemical segment like Pulp and Paper, PVC, Textiles etc. though the demand from Pharmaceutical segment remained consistently firm throughout the quarter. In addition, several major plants faced force majeure under unfavourable climate conditions, like Westlake, Olin and OxyChem all of them announced FM on their Chlorine plant across Gulf of USA. Firm demand and inadequate supply drove the prices to gain value during the quarter ending March.
Asia
The Asian market showed mixed sentiments for Liquid Chlorine from several downstream sectors, while the supply fluctuated in different segments affecting the prices. After lunar holidays in China, some downstream users claimed having shortage of Chlorine gas, and gained a significant number in its value in this segment. While in the Indian markets, sufficient availability due to ample by-product Caustic Soda production and lower demand pressured the value of Liquid Chlorine in the country. In the Indian and Chinese markets, prices of Liquid Chlorine reduced and reached USD 202.3/MT and USD 211/MT respectively during March.
Europe
The European market encountered a healthy demand from the domestic disinfectant sector during this quarter. Consumption of Chlorine in Europe showed increment on y-o-y basis, however the production also showed sufficient improvement to satisfy this demand. Imports from USA remained halted due to major plant turnarounds. In addition, curtailed production in major Middle Eastern plants also reduced the supply activity of the region. Overall. the regional Liquid chlorine prices showed marginal improvement compared to the last quarter.
For the Quarter Ending September 2020
Asia
As COVID-19 restrictions were eased across major Asian economies, a number of Chlor-Alkali producers reported operations reversing to normal in the third quarter. Buoyed by improvement in the offtakes by several Chlorine derivative manufacturers, a much-needed bounce back in the third quarter results pushed Chlor-Alkali producers to proceed with their scheduled forward integration plans in the Chlorine-Caustic supply chain. An Indian Chlor-Alkali giant reported a double-digit EBITDA growth in Q3 as demand for chlorine value-added products remained upbeat during the quarter, driven by rising consumption from healthcare and hygiene, drinking water and other industrial segments. Easing Caustic demand, however kept the output low causing industrial grade liquid Chlorine to remain rangebound within USD 200-260 per MT CFR Southeast Asia.
Europe
Chlorine demand rose after witnessing a massive fall in Q2 as demand from the downstream PVC producers picked-up after a sharp rebound was observed in the construction activity later in Q3. With Chlor-Alkali operations settling at above 80% rates as lockdowns eased, traders could observe more intense buying for Chlorine derivatives despite hovering fears of second coronavirus wave in several European states. While prospects for Chlorine remained strong, market players were seen sort of finding a mid-way to strike out balance between PVC and Caustic as sales of the latter was still under pressure.
North America
The North American Chlorine industry remained subjected to acute volatility during the third quarter with supply largely deterred from outages caused due to high winds as a result of Hurricane Laura and a series of regional storms thereafter. Chlor-Alkali Production rates were held at about average levels in the first half of the quarter amid softening demand for the by-product Caustic Soda lye. Constrained Chlor-Alkali rates and a lack of Chlorine feedstock for PVC production further triggered potential shortage in the PVC export volumes among some US producers. The demand, however, gathered uptrend later after a sharp pick-up in enquiries for Chlorine derivatives such as EDC (ethylene dichloride), VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) was observed. A leading manufacturer reported shipment of some railcar Chlorine at the highest price since 2003 during the third quarter.
