Celanese Corporation CEdeclared that it is closing its acetate tow manufacturing unit in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico. This move is geared to strengthen the company’s competitive position, cut fixed costs and align future production capacities with expected industry demand.
The company has witnessed challenging global business environment for acetate tow products.
However, the company will continue to serve its acetate tow customers by optimizing its global production network, which includes fully-owned facilities in Lanaken, Belgium, and Narrows, Virginia, United States, and acetate tow joint-venture facilities in China. Celanese anticipates to operate its acetate tow unit in Ocotlan through the fourth quarter of 2018 to ensure a smooth closure process.
Celanese has outperformed the industryin a year’s time. While shares of the company have moved up around 31%, the industry saw a rise of roughly 12.1%.