A fire at the titanium dioxide plant operated by US chemical producer Huntsman (The Woodlands, Texas / USA; www.huntsman.com) in Pori / Finland on 30 January was extinguished quickly and all employees are accounted for, the chemical and plastics producer said in a statement. There were no injuries. The plant will remain offstream for the present, but Huntsman said it is “committed” to repairing it as quickly as possible.

With a capacity of 130,000 t/y, Pori accounts for about 15% of Huntsman's total TiO₂ capacity and around 10% of total European demand. The outage comes at a bad time for the market, as prices are rising sharply on the back of short supplies. The plastics industry accounts for about a quarter of all applications for the white pigment, with significant volumes going into PVC profiles and sheet.

For several years, the TiO₂ sector was dogged by overcapacity, but producers recently have taken steps to reduce output. DuPont has spun off its activities into Chemours, and following its own efforts at consolidation, Huntsman is preparing to exit the business with a spin-off of its Pigments and Additives segment – for the latest coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 11.07.2016.