Trinseo to Close Italy Latex Plant
Styrenics producer Trinseo, formerly Styron and part of Dow Chemical, has approved plans to close its latex production plant in Livorno, Italy, by the end of 2016. Trinseo said it expects the closure to improve asset utilization as well as reduce costs within its European latex business. Charges of around $24 million will be incurred and booked in the third and fourth quarters of 2016.
The global latex market has been suffering from a decline in the coated paper sector which Trinseo has tried to offset by cutting costs and capacity. As part of an initiative to reduce costs by $5 million in 2016, it shut its styrene butadiene latex plant in Gales Ferry, Connecticut, USA, at the end of 2015, with customers now being supplied from its other plants in Midland, Michigan, and Dalton, Georgia.
Although Trinseo’s global latex sales volumes were up by 3% in 2015 from the year before, its earnings declined. Sales revenue fell by 23% year on year to $966 million, with adjusted EBITDA down by 18.6% to $79 million. Last month, the company sold its Brazilian latex binders operation to Qoppar Participacoes, while confirming at the same time that it would continue to invest in its global latex business as it remained of strategic importance.
