A polyproprylene plant with capacity of 320,000 tonnes/yr is to close down by year-end in Pasadena, Texas, as a result of the dissolution of a 60:40 joint venture of Chevron Phillips Chemical (The Woodlands. TX) and Sumitomo Chemical (Tokyo).

After the Phillips Sumika Polypropylene Company (PSPC) closure, Chevron Phillips will source cost-competitive PP for the North American market from its Saudi Polymers Company (SPCo) joint venture with Saudi Industrial Investment Group scheduled to start up during the second half of 2011 in al-Jubail, a Saudi Arabian industrial city located on the Persian Gulf. This plant has capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year.

For its part, Sumitomo will continue to supply automotive PP compounds to users in North America through Sumika Polymer Compounds America, Inc. (SPCA; Griffin, GA), a company jointly owned by Sumitomo and Toyo Ink Group (Tokyo) that was in any case toll compounding such grades for PSPC. Sumitomo Chemical positions the business of PP compounds for automobiles as one of its core operations, and has established production and sales bases in Japan, Europe, North America, China and Southeast Asia. -[email protected]