The Woodlands, Texas – Global MDI production is running at about 90% of nameplate capacity, and looks likely to stay there for a while, Peter Huntsman, CEO of Huntsman told analysts at a recent meeting.
His company is planning to turn around its 500 kT/year plant in Rosenberg, Netherlands in the first half of 2021, and the Geismar, Texas facility in the first quarter.
Huntsman: Rosenberg turnaround depends on others
The company pushed a scheduled turnaround in Geismar back from the final quarter of 2020 into the first quarter of 2021 because US demand was so strong, Peter Huntsman said.
Looking at of 2021, he said: 'Our biggest challenge in the first quarter is not going to be around demand and pricing. I feel pretty optimistic on those things. It's going to be around the timing of the turnaround we have in Geismar. We have a single line and we pushed production into Rosenberg. The issue we have in Rosenberg is that it is a cluster turnaround. We can only operate those turnarounds as fast as the slowest person can come up to speed.'
Although the effects of the turnarounds will be about $30m in the quarter, and $15m in the second, he said that EBITDA would be a little more than double what it was a year ago.
Hankins: Spray foam growing nicely
Away from supply and demand, Huntsman was optimistic that the new Biden administration in the US will push for more building insulation standards and that will help the business.
Tony Hankins, president of polyurethanes, said that Huntsman’s spray foam business is growing at around about 25% a year. 'We're making major inroads into Asia with the growth of spray foam Terol in Taiwan,' he said.
The Terol business involves polyols with 60% recycled PET bottles, Peter Huntsman added. 'In 2019, we had zero international EBITDA in that business,' he said. 'In 2020, even with coronavirus, we made $8m EBITDA. This year, we are looking at probably doubling that number on the international markets for that insulation.'
