The 11th Asian Chlor-alkali Conference Nears

The 11th Asian Chlor-alkali Conference, which is organized by ICIS, the world’s leading information provider for the chemical and oil industry, and Tecnon OrbiChem, will be held from 21-22 June 2007 at The Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai. Speakers from global leading companies and organizations such as the World Chlorine Council, Bayer MaterialScience, Sinochem and Qilu Petrochemicals will attend to give the international community the opportunity to hear at first hand the developments taking place in China, and to meet their colleagues in this, the most dynamic yet the most diverse chlor-alkali market in the world.

Following the success of the past ten Chlor-alkali Conferences in Singapore, ICIS has chosen Shanghai as the venue of this upcoming conference because of the booming Chinese chlor-alkali market. This year’s Asian Chlor-alkali Conference is a beneficial platform for industry leaders to discuss the uncertainties of China’s impact on the international market, the ever-present problem of keeping caustic soda and chlorine in balance, the opportunities offered by new technology and other challenges now facing the industry.

Within domestic markets, the chlor-alkali industry has enjoyed reasonably healthy returns over the past two years although not at the stellar levels of early 2005. While international markets are a different matter, with good prices continuing for caustic soda, but with chlorine values in exported ethylene dichloride (EDC) or vinyl chloride (VCM) at rock bottom levels, at least until late 2006.

The continuing good state of caustic markets can be ascribed to the plant closures in 2003-2004, which brought the world market into a snug balance. Meanwhile international EDC and VCM markets have been weakened by the rapid expansion of home production of polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) in China. The increase in PVC production, and therefore chlorine consumption in China has had a growing effect on world balances over the past two years, because of the low cost of VCM production from acetylene in China. This effect has abated with the fall in international oil prices, allowing ethylene-based PVC to recover competitively and EDC/VCM prices to rise recently.

Blooming domestic chlorine production has led to rapidly expanding caustic soda exports from China. Where this is leading in the future is one of the main uncertainties overhanging the world industry.

The 11th Asian Chlor-alkali Conference will provide an opportunity to have the industrial leaders and representatives gather at this platform to gain thoughts on how to cope with the competition status in the Chinese market.

ICIS organizes related conferences for the petrochemical industry, providing a major networking opportunity for executives in the industry to hear about the latest market trends in their sector.

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