Brunner Mond, Europe's second largest soda ash producer (after Solvay), which was acquired by Tata Chemicals (India) in 2006, has announced it is planning to close its 420,000/tpd capacity Delfzijl soda ash operations in the Netherlands by Sept/09. In a statement the company said: "The business is forecasting continued heavy losses & given the current economic downturn, the situation is now unsustainable." The decline in demand for flat glass in Europe, said to be around 20% down from 2008, no doubt negatively impacted by the struggling auto & construction markets. The much tighter supply/demand situation of 2008 helped to enable increased prices for 2009 contracts, however, spot prices have weakened considerably during 2009. For the first time in Europe, it is reported that long-term contracts are being replaced by quarterly & 6 monthly contracts.
