The construction of a new polypropylene (PP) plant in La Porte, Texas, along the Houston Ship Channel, owned by Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem is near complete, market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM. Braskem has spent $634 million so far for the 450,000 tons/year plant, and the construction had reached 98.4% by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Braskem previously expected to start up the new plant in July. However, in its Q1 2020 earnings call, the company said that the start-up date would encompass the entire Q3 due to the coronavirus pandemic which posed a challenge to bring people to the site to oversee commissioning and certify systems. The company and warehouse provider Frontier Logistics also plans to open a PP export hub in Charleston, South Carolina, by Q3.
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, Braskem owns five existing PP plants in the US through acquisitions. They have a combined capacity of 1.57 million tons/year. The new plant is Braskem’s first PP newbuild in the country. Market participants said Braskem’s Brazilian operations supplied its US arm, Braskem America with 8,000 tons of PP to in Q1 for the new plant’s pre-marketing activities.
