PETROCHEMICAL MARKETS: Polypropylene TotalEnergies reportedly declares another force majeure for Gonfreville, France

— By PIE staff — 

On 16 January, French petrochemical group TotalEnergies (Paris; www.totalenergies.com) reportedly declared another force majeure on polypropylene deliveries from the plant in Gonfreville, France. PIE received corresponding confirmations from several processors. The company itself did not respond to an enquiry. The cause and possible duration of the FM are still unclear.  

However, according to the PIE Price Team, the outage is currently unlikely to have an impact on the availability or price of PP. Recently, low demand had ensured that none of the mark-ups that producers had planned could be realised. Despite cutbacks and other production restrictions, the market has more material available than it needs, PIE wrote in its latest trend report. 

According to PIE’s Polyglobe database, the Gonfreville plant has a capacity of 230,000 t/y. TotalEnergies lifted its previous force majeure only in mid-September 2024, after it had been in place for almost nine months.