Capacity Ledger

Which of September's Tonnes Are Coming Back?

The September edition of the ledger, sixteen entries, and the first month both columns published a capacity figure. Just over two million tonnes a year came off the book against seven and a half thousand arriving, and nine tenths of the leaving side is still standing.


Two million tonnes a year came off the ledger in September and almost all of it is still standing.

INEOS mothballed 850,000 t/yr of acetyls at Saltend on September 22, two units already stopped and the third due within days. Methanex told the market on September 1 that it expects to indefinitely idle New Zealand in the first quarter of 2027, which is 860,000 t/yr of methanol.

Neither company used the word closure. Both published the tonnage anyway.

Then Westlake put 165,000 t/yr of Cologne PVC into an 8-K with a $205 million charge on September 29, and Leuna Polyamid ran its last caprolactam at the end of the month.

Four removals carrying a number, 2,051,000 t/yr between them. The addition column published 7,500.

That ratio is 273 to one, and it is not the finding.

"Which of these tonnes can come back, and what would have to be true?"

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