RIL polypropylene plant to stay shut for 4 weeks

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries on Monday announced that it has shut down its polypropylene plant at Jamnagar "with the objective of improving product swing capability and increasing yield". The shutdown is expected to last for approximately four weeks, the company said in a statement.

Industry sources said the shutdown follows a sharp decline in the demand for polypropylene which is used as a raw material for packaging commodities such as cement, foodgrains and chemicals. It is also used to make automobile parts such as bumpers and mud-guards.

"The rest of the units at the Jamnagar refinery are continuing to operate at their normal throughputs and product dispatches to customers will be unaffected through the duration of the shutdown," the statement added.

RIL, Asia's largest producer of polypropylene, produces nearly a million tonne of the product at the Jamnagar plant. It has a 70% share of the domestic market. The polypropylene division is a part of RIL's petrochemical business.