Russian Chlor-Alkali Industry's performance as summed up for the time-period from January through February, 2013(adapted from the materials published in "Vestnik Khimicheskoij Promyshlennosti" (Chemical Industry Journal, ISSN No. 2078 - 8991) No.2 (71), 2013)

The combined output of PVC and the vinyl chloride copolymers amounted to 110.8 thousand metric tonnes for the period from January through February this year, which falls short of the previous year's analogous period's level of the indicator being considered by 1.6%.
There was definitely registered a fall in the overall production output at all the industrial facilities except for the ones situated in the Regions of Volgograd and Nizhnij Novgorod for the two first months of the year 2013 compared to the value of the same parameter registered for the same period of the previous year.
 
The overall annual output of the product being considered fell at Sterlitamak OJSC "Kaustik" alone by 5.9% for the aforementioned period of the year 2013.
 
At the same time OJSC "Sayanskkhimplast" located in Irkutsk Region accounted for more than a forty percent share in the overall output of Polyvinyl Chloride and vinyl chloride copolymers for the period being reported. There also fell down the production output at Sayansk OJSC "Sayanskkhimplast" for the first two months of the year 2013 but by only quite modest 0.7% to the level of 49.9 thousand metric tonnes compared to the same two-month period in the previous year.
 
There rose the production output at Dzerzhinsk OJSC "Sibur-Neftekhim" in the Nizhnij Novgorod Region by 2.2% to the level of 6.6 thousand metric tonnes for the reported period in the year 2013 compared to the same two-month period in the previous year.
 
There is going on the production of both Polyvinyl Chloride and vinyl chloride copolymers at only the following two production facilities in the Volgograd Region now: Volgograd OJSC "Khimprom" and Volgograd OJSC "Kaustik".
 
There was registered a modest rise by 3.4% from 18.5 to 19.1 thousand metric tonnes in the overall production output of Polyvinyl Chloride in the Volgograd Region for the first two months of the year 2013.
 
The combined output of the caustic soda and caustic potash fell by 1.1% to the level of 186.0 thousand metric tonnes for the first two-month period in the year 2013 compared to the same parameter’s value registered for the same period in the previous year.
 
Caustic soda and caustic potash have always been mostly produced by diaphragm electrolysis in the Russian Federation. The up-to-date membrane electrolysis accounts for only not more than a 17% share in the overall output of caustic soda and caustic potash in the Russian Federation.
 
The output of caustic soda as calculated without taking into consideration the one of caustic potash fell by 1.1% to the level of 181.3 thousand metric tonnes for the first two-month period in the year 2013 compared to the same parameter’s value registered for the same period in the previous year. There was registered a fall in the production output of caustic soda for the reported period at the following production facilities in the Russian Federation though to varying extents: Volgograd Open Joint-Stock Company "Kaustik" demonstrated a fall by 8.4%; Kemerovo Limited Liability Company "Production Association "Khimprom" demonstrated a fall by 6.9%; Novocheboksarsk Open Joint-Stock Company "Khimprom" demonstrated a fall by 4.4%; Volgograd Open Joint-Stock "Khimprom" demonstrated a fall by 3.5%; Kirovo-Chepetsk Limited Liability Company "Halopolimer" demonstrated a fall by 3.3%. Volgograd OJSC "Kaustik" produced the following volumes of the caustic soda for the first two-month period in the year 2013: 19.6 thousand metric tonnes under the mercury cathode electrolysis technology, which amounted to only 91.6% of the caustic soda output made under the same technology for the same period in the previous year;15.0 thousand metric tonnes under the diaphragm electrolysis technology, which amounted to only 96.5% of the caustic soda output made under the same technology for the same period in the previous year. Of all the eleven facilities that are currently manufacturing the products considered only LLC "Novoskovskij Khlor" located in Tula Region, Sterlitamak OJSC "Kaustik", and two plants located in Irkutsk region definitely raised the production output compared to the same two-month period in the previous year.
 
The 14.8% rise in the caustic soda output at LLC "Novomoskovskij Khlor" for the time period considered should be accounted for by the rise in the facility’s productive capacity that in turn has been driven by a local rise in the demand for chlorine made by the industrial consumers of this plant's products.
 
The 6.2% rise in the output of caustic soda registered at the key producer of this product in Russia, namely Steritamak OJSC "Kaustik" for January through February, 2013 compared to the same two-month period in the previous year should be accounted for by the expansion of the production of chlorine derivatives which in turn should be accounted for by the newly established regularity in the supplies of ethylene to the plant. Sterlitsmak OJSC "Kaustik" produced the following volumes of the caustic soda for the first two-month period in the year 2013: 19.0 thousand metric tonnes under the mercury cathode electrolysis technology, which amounted to 109.6% of the caustic soda output made under the same technology for the same period in the previous year;11.8 thousand metric tonnes under the diaphragm electrolysis technology, which amounted to 101.7% of the caustic soda output made under the same technology for the same period in the previous year. The overall rise in the caustic soda output registered at the chlor-alkali plants in Irkutsk Region, namely OJSC "Sayanskkhimplast" and Closed JSC "Ilimkhimprom" for the first two-month period this year amounted only to modest 0.9%.
 
This was mostly driven by a rise in the volumes of the products linked to caustic soda that are circulating in the domestic market. At the same time, there are still problems felt in selling chlorine in the Russian Federation, which hampers the expansion of the caustic soda production there.
 
The output of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) rose by 1.6% to the level of 4.7 thousand metric tonnes for the first two-month period in the year 2013 compared to the same parameter’s value registered for the same period in the previous year.
 
The rise in the caustic potash production output registered at Berezniki LLC "Soda-Khlorat" located in Perm Region for this year’s first two-month period has amounted to 2.7%.
 
As the demand for caustic potash fell in general, Kirovo-Chepetsk LLC "HaloPolymer" had not been producing that product at all for the whole period from January through February, 2013.
 
The capacity utilization rate for the caustic soda and caustic potash production lines amounted to 82% for the first two-month period in the Russian Federation this year, which is a fall by 1.6% compared to the last year’s analogous two-month period.