Kozic, the German chemical giant, said on Monday that it plans to invest around 200 million euros to upgrade its MDI capacity in Tarragona, Spain, and to resume production after 2020.
Investments include eliminating factory bottlenecks, boosting production capacity from 50,000 tons / year to 220,000 tons / year, and other measures to enhance cost competitiveness.
Coosoft said: "As a first step, the company plans to be self-sufficient in supplying chlorine to ensure efficient, continuous and independent supply of the core raw materials."
Andrea Firenze, manager of Covestro's Spanish plant, said in May that the company's decision to keep the MDI plant in operation during March was just a "standstill" to shut down.
He said: 'I want to emphasize the term' delay. 'Covestro has always had a way to get the most important raw material, chlorine, but it has not been able to make a final decision about the future supply of MDI.'
Covestro said that the bottleneck to eliminate the increase in production will be carried out in 2022, while the production of chlorine is scheduled to begin in late 2020.
Patrick Thomas, chief executive of Covestro, said on Monday: "We are doing our best in the MDI market and in the plant in Tarragona, making the plant more efficient and competitive by breaking production bottlenecks and building our own chlorine supply system."
Covestro has doubled MDI capacity at the Brunsbuch plant in Germany to reach capacity of 400,000 tonnes / year by the end of 2018.
Markus Steilemann, chief business officer and upcoming CEO at Covestro, said the company expects the MDI to remain in short supply.
Therefore, this investment not only allows us to meet the increasing needs of our customers, but also supports our organic development. "