by Freedonia Industry Studies
October 9, 2020
Over the past several months, companies have been trying to figure out when things are going to stabilize and where they are going next. For some companies in the chemical industry, the time to act has arrived as fading government support and slow economic rebounds around most of the world are forcing hard choices.
In some cases, companies are choosing to completely exit certain lines of business. For example, Dow recently announced that it is closing a number of polyurethane manufacturing facilities, along with rationalizing product capacity in other product lines as well.
Other companies have looked to keep operations going by raising cash or by finding new opportunities where they did not exist before. Sasol, for example, has agreed to sell half of its new petrochemicals complex in Louisiana to LyondellBasell.
Some closures are related to reduced demand in an economy disrupted by a global pandemic. Others are responses to a shortage of internal resources. For instance, some companies are exiting business lines or closing facilities that they might have persisted with in “normal” times. However, when resources are limited, businesses are choosing to ride it out with areas that are either the most profitable right now or that give them the best opportunities for assured long-term growth.
For more information and discussion of opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, including industrial material topics such as Global Thermoplastic Elastomers, Global Polyolefin Elastomers, Global Medical Thermoplastic Elastomers, and Global Silicones (and the related COVID-19 Economic Impact Report on the topic), Liquid Silicone Rubber (and the related COVID-19 Economic Impact Report on the topic). Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.