The world’s largest supplier of polyethylene, Dow Chemical, is moving those operations and indeed its entire basic plastics supply business into a new joint venture it officially formed last week after more than one year of negotiations. Called K-Dow Petrochemicals, the 50:50 joint venture with Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) will be one of the largest petrochemicals and plastics companies in the world. The JV, first announced last year, is expected to be finalized by Jan. 1, 2009.  Also rolled into K-Dow Petrochemicals will be two other JVs between Dow and PIC, MEGlobal and Equipolymers.

Dow also announced it would let go of about 11% of its workforce, or about 5000 fulltime jobs and 6000 contractor positions. It also said it will permanently shut 20 facilities and temporarily close 180 facilities. Dow’s moves come of the heels of announcements by other plastics suppliers, including BASF and DuPont, to close facilities (80 for BASF, 10 for DuPont) or idle them (100 for each). Plastics supplier Sabic Innovative Plastics last month announced it would reduce its output by up to 20% on a material-by-material basis, and newspaper The Berkshire Eagle reports that the supplier has also reduced the headcount at its Pittsfield, MA headquarters by 40, or more than 10% of that site’s employees. Other plastics suppliers also are slowing or shutting facilities, and the ranks of plastics processors, in many cases, are even more affected.—[email protected]