“Another schizophrenic day for the chemical industry of Porto Marghera” is how a newspaper in Venice / Italy described the renewed failure of the previously sealed transfer of the Ineos Vinyls Italia VCM and PVC plants at nearby Porto Marghera to Safi, the investment vehicle of Italian entrepreneur Fiorenzo Sartor, in the final days of March. But on 1 April, the tables turned. The psychiatrists were free to attend to other patients, and all parties to the ongoing “crisi” in Italy’s ailing chemicals sector were hoping for a bright future – see Plasteurope.com of 20.03.2009.

With the definitive agreement, for which no financial details were disclosed, the Ineos group (Lyndhurst / UK; www.ineos.com) has now quit the Italian vinyls sector altogether. Along with the production facilities, the entire company has been sold to Safi, which has renamed it Vinyls Italia. Along with Porto Marghera, the transaction involves plants at Ravenna and at Porto Torres on the island of Sardinia.

The precise reason why Sartor threatened to turn his back on the deal once again is still murky. Italian reports said there was still some lingering dispute over the repayment of Ineos’ EUR 80m debt to feedstock supplier Eni and a great deal of mistrust between the British and Italian sides about the wording of the agreement generally. In any case, the final settlement pulls the Italian chemicals sector a step further back from the brink where it has been teetering for more than three years.

Aside from assuring that the transition in vinyls runs as smoothly as possible, the next challenge for economic development minister Claudio Scajola – who is credited with bringing the disputed parties back to the bargaining table more than one time – will be to revive the national roundtable talks on the future of the Italian chemical industry as urged by Italy’s unions as well as regional and local authorities.