Along with the company“s 1996 financial performance, reported in last week“s Glassonline World News, the UK firm Brunner Mond“s recent annual report also detailed the company“s overall activities
Along with the company“s 1996 financial performance, reported in last week“s Glassonline World News, the UK firm Brunner Mond“s recent annual report also detailed the company“s overall activities. Mr. Richard Bell, managing director of Brunner Mond said that the business, bought from ICI in 1991, has been made more efficient and that the company is set to grow, particularly in the UK. At a time when producers in other parts of Europe are closing synthetic soda ash capacity, Brunner Mond says it intends to raise soda ash capacity at its Winnington, UK, plant. It is planning to expand soda ash capacity by 100,000 tonnes/year and is expecting to have the first 50,000 tonnes/year phase sanctioned this year for completion in 1998. Brunner Mond“s combined UK capacity from its two plants (Winnington and Lostock) would thus reach 1.1 million tonnes/year. The company is Europe“s second-largest soda ash producer after Belgium“s Solvay. Chemical producers, says Bell, account for 30% of soda ash demand in the UK, and the sector is growing rapidly. Container glass makers represent 30% and flat glass makers 14% of UK consumption. Brunner Mond“s internal use of soda ash is 7% of the total. Soda ash prices in the UK have been lower than in the rest of Europe, but Brunner Mond has successfully increased levels and says that the combination of price increases and the strength of the UK currency means that it is about level with the rest of Europe, selling at UK 115-140 per tonne. The European Commission has implemented anti-dumping measures against US soda ash producers because of their dumping in the early 1990s. The measures are under a planned review by the commission and are important to ensure that competition is conducted on a fair-trade basis, says Brunner Mond. Brunner Mond (UK) accounted for 83% of the company“s total sales, with the remaining 17% derived from the Magadi Soda operation in Kenya. David Wertheim, CEO of Brunner Mond Plc, says about 75% of the 300,000 tonnes/year of soda ash output in Kenya is exported to the high-growth markets of south-east Asia. Following a recent acquisition from ICI South Africa of a bulk soda ash terminal in Durban, Magadi Soda has increased sales to South Africa. However, the South African market is still dominated by Botswana Soda and the US trading group Ansac.