Petrochem production hit by heavy floods across Central Europe

Central European countries including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania have been struggling with devastating floods due to rising rivers since earlier this week which resulted in with deaths across the region. Meanwhile, production at some chemical and petrochemical companies was also reported to be affected from the heavy flooding with production or delivery disruptions emerging for PVC, PS and PE, as per ChemOrbis. Two Polish companies reportedly halted their petrochemical production given safety issues caused by severe weather conditions. Anwil declared force majeure on the output from their plant in Neratovice, Czech Republic earlier this week. The force majeure is expected to remain in place until June 20, according to industry sources. The company normally produces 130,000 tpa PVC at the facility. In addition, Synthos had to shut all units at their petrochemical complex located in Kralupy, Czech Republic. The company reportedly stated that their power plant was flooded with water. The facility houses a 30,000 tpa GPPS and a 50,000 tpa HIPS plant in addition to a 170,000 tpa styrene and 90,000 tpa butadiene plant. A distributor in Italy reported, "A Central European producer declared a force majeure on their PVC output due to severe weather conditions which caused a flood at their warehouses. Therefore, they cannot offer their material until they verify the conditions of the products." A packaging converter in Italy also mentioned that he asked for 8 cargoes from his Central European PS supplier, but he received only 2 cargoes as the seller has limited availability due to adverse weather conditions. A source from a Serbian polymer producer who offers PE materials to Turkey also commented on the situation. "We are still providing smooth and normal deliveries by truck but our rail shipments have been delayed for several days due to the floods in Europe." He hopes that their rail deliveries will normalize by Sunday or Monday. Players in Turkey reported tight prompt PVC supplies in the south region this week. Some players noted that it may ease thanks to the materials on the way whereas some other players claimed that all those en-route materials were already secured. According to ChemOrbis, a source at a Hungarian petrochemical producer also reported, "We have had to recall some trucks from flooded areas of Germany and rail deliveries are facing delays through Austria as the government is limiting the number of trains that can move through the country at any one time. We are afraid that the floods will spread to the south and may affect the Balkan countries soon."