Output will be reduced by 55,000tpa in the UK and South Africa

Output will be reduced by 55,000tpa in the UK and South Africa

Huntsman Tioxide is to streamline its capacity for titanium dioxide white pigment in the UK and South Africa with the loss of 300 jobs, almost 200 of them in the UK. Capacity at the company’s Grimsby plant will be halved to 40,000tpa over the next 12 months. Output at the Umbogintwini site in South Africa will be cut by 15,000tpa to 25,000tpa.

After the programme is completed, Huntsman Tioxide will have capacity of 550,000tpa worldwide compared with the current 600,000tpa figure. It will retain third place in the supplier league table for the pigment, of which around one-quarter is used in the plastics industry.

Huntsman Tioxide president Tom Keenan said: “After reconfiguration, both Grimsby and Umbogintwini will be well positioned to compete more effectively in their key markets.” The company opened a new TiO2 plant at Greetham, on Teesside, late in 2002 and has facilities in several other European locations.