EPDM volumes down by 35 percent in 2009

Geleen, Netherlands -- According to Jan Paul de Vries, president of DSM Elastomers, global sales of EPDM will fall by around 35 percent in 2009, down to about 800 kt or less compared with sales in 2008. He said that at the peak of last year's boom, sales were running at a rate of around 1200 kilotonnes/year, but that has dramatically dropped in the last six months, with recovery unpredictable and sporadic at best.

He said the effect had been worse in the first quarter of this year, with all participants in the supply chain de-stocking. This de-stocking process is still not complete, with the automakers holding large stocks of vehicles, which will prevent sales volumes returning to more 'normal' levels for some time to come.

De Vries was unable to make a prediction about how soon sales might recover, saying that sales are changing from week to week as different customers put in orders, with no clear pattern in sales figures.

He noted that around ten percent of global capacity for EPDM has been taken out of production in the last few months, with the Dow Chemicals plant at Seadrift, Texas closing and another plant in the US shutting down one line.

Separately, Gunter Weymans, head of Lanxess' technical rubber products group, speaking in Singapore, told ERJ that Lanxess has closed one of its EPDM production lines at its plant in Orange,Texas.

Meanwhile, said de Vries, DSM Elastomers is reducing output from its plants to match demand more closely. De Vries said that if sales recover, then the supply/demand situation will certaily see some effect from the closures.