Indorama to shutter Canadian plant

Indorama Ventures intends to close its purified terephthalatic acid (PTA) plant in Montreal. The Thai chemical firm bought the plant, which has annual capacity of 600,000 metric tons per year for the polyester raw material, from the Spanish firm Cepsa in 2015. But Indorama has been cutting back production as it deals with overcapacity in the marketplace. The company is also closing a polyethylene terephthalate and PTA complex in the Netherlands, as well as an ethylene oxide and derivatives facility in Australia. In a statement, Unifor Québec, a union that represents workers at the plant, says it was “blindsided” by the news of the closure, which is scheduled for September.