Resin Giant Shuts Down 265,000-ton Unit

Recently, Olin Corporation announced that it will temporarily scale back integrated epoxy resin production at its plant in Stade, Germany. In the first quarter of 2022, Olin's epoxy resin demand in Europe was lower than expected, exacerbated by uncertainty following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Olin is reluctant to sell incremental products to the lower end of the market, and it is impractical to operate epoxy resin facilities at less than 50% capacity. Due to these factors, record gas and electricity costs in Europe and facility maintenance, Olin has decided to suspend Stade epoxy production.

As the world's second largest epoxy resin supplier, Olin has a production capacity of 610,000 tons, second only to the 630,000 tons of South Korea's Guodu Chemicals. Among them, it has a production capacity of 265,000 tons of epoxy resin in Stade, Germany.

Olin expects the epoxy business' first-quarter 2022 results to be approximately $35-$40 million lower sequentially than the fourth quarter of 2021. We continue to expect Q1 2022 total chemical performance to be similar to Q4 2021 levels due to Olin's unique model adapting in real time to prioritize system value globally.