As a bit of relief for the global TDI market, BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) has lifted the force majeure for the polyurethane precursor produced at its site in Geismar, Louisiana / USA – see Plasteurope.com of 06.02.2018. The group lifted the FM on 9 March, but full production at the isocyanate plant is expected to return slowly. "Lupranate" chemicals will then probably be allocated for a while, until normal operation can be reached.

At the end of January, low temperatures and a fire in a supplier's pipeline had caused the failure. At press time, it was not known whether the FM for the production of pure MDI, "PolyTHF", BDO and others was also lifted.