New plant with capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of chlorine a year will be built at the Petrochemical Complex of Camaçari
06/06/2022
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Mauricio Russomanno — Foto: Silvia Zamboni/Valor
Unipar, the largest producer of chlorine and caustic soda and one of the main PVC manufacturers in South America, will invest R$130 million in a new plant, in Bahia. This raises to R$230 million the disbursements unveiled since the end of last year by the company to expand capacity.
The new plant, with a capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of chlorine a year, will be built at the Petrochemical Complex of Camaçari (Bahia) and is expected to start operating in the first half of 2024. It will meet the growing demand for hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite and caustic soda driven by the new basic sanitation legal framework.
“We believe in the sanitation framework as one growth driver for the market. There have already been several approvals [of projects] and auctions, and there will be more,” CEO Mauricio Russomanno told Valor.
In chlorine, the company’s installed capacity will jump to 715,000 from 680,000 tonnes/year with two expansions – in Santo André (Greater São Paulo), with an investment of R$100 million, the production of chlorine, caustic soda and hydrochloric acid will be increased by 15% as from the second half of 2023.
With the new injections, the company starts to shape a new growth cycle supported by the perspective of increasing demand for chlorine and its products driven by the new legal framework for basic sanitation in Brazil. The plant in Bahia is the first greenfield project within the company’s geographic expansion strategy, whose last major leap was taken at the end of 2016, with the purchase of the PVC plants of the Solvay group (Indupa) in Brazil and Argentina.
The company had already signaled the intention to have a plant in the Northeast region, in the wake of the high investments necessary for the region to reach the levels of universal access to water and sewage services by 2033 foreseen in the framework.
Bahia is the first step in the region, Mr. Russomanno said. “We are looking at Pernambuco and the north of the region, at states such as Rio Grande do Norte and Maranhão,” he said.
The construction of new plants and potential acquisitions, possibly branching into adjacent businesses, are on the company’s radar.
As Valor reported, Unipar studied the purchase of the chloralkali plant of Compass Minerals in Igarassu, Pernambuco, formerly Produquímica, in the first half of last year, but the deal fell apart. Compass Minerals ended up selling the plant, in addition to the chemical units for water treatment in Marechal Deodoro (Alagoas) and Suzano (São Paulo), to Cape Participações for R$236 million. These units will be operated by Chlorum Solutions.
According to Mr. Russomanno, Unipar may seek financing to execute the project in Bahia, but it has enough funds on hand to build the new plant. At the end of March, the company had more cash and cash equivalents than gross debt, with a positive balance (net cash) of R$432.9 million.
Source: Valor International