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December 2009 chlorine production

Chlor-alkali production figures

Note: Euro Chlor has welcomed two new reporting members, increasing the reporting capacity for 2009 by 2.15%. All statistics for 2009 include the new members, whilst 2008 figures are based on the previous membership.

European chlorine production in December reached 733,670 tonnes. The December average daily production at 23,667 tonnes was 12.4% lower than the previous month (November 2009: 27,018 tonnes), and 25.8% higher than in December 2008 (18,811 tonnes).

Despite another month of lower than average exports, December caustic soda stocks fell by 6.0% to 240,191 tonnes (compared to 255,645 tonnes in November), which is 12.033 tonnes more than in December 2008 (228,158 tonnes), being the month with the lowest stocks of that year (2008).

Details of chlorine production and caustic soda stocks in the EU-25 countries plus Norway and Switzerland in November 2009 are provided in the tables on the next page.

EU 25 + Norway/Switzerland
Production & capacity utilisation

Month	Production (tonnes)			Capacity Utilisation (%)
	2008	2009	% change	2008	2009 (estimate)
January	920,472	665,892	-27.7	86.5	60.4
February	854,617	740,602	-13.3	85.9	74.4
March	916,402	738,872	- 19.4	86.1	67.0
April	874,507	670,349	- 23.3	84.9	62.8
May	911,541	764,102	- 16.2	85.7	69.3
June	852,078	761,213	- 10.7	82.8	71.3
July	909,597	825,731	- 9.2	85.5	74.9
August	916,087	770,500	- 15.9	86.1	69.9
September	821,484	770,947	- 6.2	79.8	72.2
October	869,892	794,980	- 8.6	81.8	72.1
November	686,351	814,554	+ 18,7	66.7	76.0
December	583,153	733,670	+25.8	54.8	66.5

Caustic soda stocks (tonnes)

Month	2008	2009
January	274,625	242,588
February	249,762	293,675
March	277,515	352,685
April	260,049	349,259
May	257,559	341,344
June	247,738	304,845
July	264,509	322,600
August	325,034	279,421
September	304,794	240,641
October	284,526	230,113
November	271,470	255,645
December	228,158	240,191

Further information:

Alistair J Steel, Executive Director
Tel: +32 2 676 73 50

Footnote to Editors

Some of the totals for each month may vary slightly compared with figures used earlier. Please rely on the most recent information since it sometimes happens that estimates have to be made when data is supplied late by a producer. This is subsequently adjusted when the actual figure becomes available.
Euro Chlor is a Brussels-based business association representing chlor-alkali producers in the EU and EFTA regions employing about 39,000 people at 69 manufacturing locations. Almost 2,000,000 jobs in Europe are directly or indirectly related to chlorine and its co-product caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). These two key chemical building blocks underpin 55% of European chemical industry turnover.

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