Croda to shut chemicals plant

NATURAL chemicals group Croda International is to close its manufacturing plant on Teesside which could see the loss of up to 125 jobs.

Goole-based Croda said that production at the plant at Wilton will end in January next year because of the Dow Chemical Company’s decision to close its own factory on the Wilton site which is the supplier of a key raw material to Croda products.

The move is likley to cost £13m and an asset write off of £5m while Croda said it expects to achieve annual savings of at least £5m from 2010 following the closure.

Dow’s ethylene oxide and glycol plant on the Wilton site is the only one in the UK that currently produces EO, a raw material that Croda is dependent upon to manufacture key products across its consumer care and industrial specialities markets.

Croda said that alternative sources of EO are available on the continent, but transportation of large quantities of the hazardous substance is strictly regulated and expensive and it plans to move production to other overseas sites within the group.