Canada's Pétromont to shutter two plants due to North American market downturn

17-Jan-09

Pétromont, a Canadian petrochem company jointly owned by Dow Chemical Canada and the Société générale de financement du Québec, Quebec's investment arm has announced to permanently shutter its Varennes and Montréal-Nord plants by April 30. The closure comes following a provisional shut down of the two plants company in April, 2008 resulting in of 325 layoffs. The Varennes plant produced basic petrochemicals while the Montreal-Nord plant was involved in manufacturing polyethylene resins. The company said the shut down was due to currently prevailing difficult market conditions in North America and difficulty in sourcing raw materials at competitive prices due spiking Canadian dollar.