How Antwerp Quit Commodity Polycarbonate Four Years Early
Covestro said on Thursday it intends to run Antwerp on one polycarbonate line instead of four and stop making bisphenol A there. The customs record had already called it: Belgian-origin polycarbonate landing in the United States went from $3.40 a kilo in 2021 to $5.43 in 2025, while the average across every origin finished the four years exactly where it started. And your 2026 book is bigger than your 2025 one.
In 2021 the United States bought 15,258 tonnes of Belgian polycarbonate at $3.40 a kilogram. In 2025 it bought 4,211 tonnes at $5.43.
The customs file does not say why. Covestro said why on Thursday.
Four Lines, One Line
Covestro NV announced on October 15 that it intends to consolidate polycarbonate production at Antwerp from four lines to one, and to discontinue local production of bisphenol A at the site. Up to 260 employees in production and support functions are inside the scope, out of around 970 on site.
The surviving line is the interesting half of the sentence. Covestro says it "would focus on higher value specialty grades such as heat-resistant APEC," the copolycarbonate family that runs headlamp lenses at a Vicat softening point north of 200 C and sterilizable healthcare parts rated for hot air at 180 C.
Everything else at Antwerp stays in place: the polyether lines, the Technology Centre that develops global polycarbonate process technology, and the new aniline unit, which the company restated as continuing "as planned."
Covestro calls this an intention. The formal information and consultation process with employee representatives opened the same day, and no final decision comes before that process closes.
No closure date exists yet, and no tonnage appears anywhere in the release.
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