The SOLVAY Group has decided to close down its Electrolytic Unit at Hallein (near Salzburg) in Austria by the end of this year. The plant manufactures caustic soda, liquid chlorine and chlorine derivatives.
Even if efforts to increase productivity have proved to be successful, the Hallein plant has been making considerable losses for quite some years and even suffered a cash drain. This was due to the cumulative effect of a number of factors such as:

• high cost of industrial salt, purchased from the Austrian salt-mines, which has increased considerably during the last few years;
• the cost of electricity;
• the size of the plant: it is too small and for that reason not really competitive when compared with plants of a bigger size.

Despite long negotiations with its suppliers, there is no perspective for the Hallein plant to regain profitability in the foreseeable future .
Ninety people are currently employed at the electrolytic unit at Hallein. For the people involved, a social scheme will be discussed with the representative organizations, whilst a limited number of employees will be maintained to operate a storage facility.

The SOLVAY Group is an international chemical and pharmaceutical Group, based in Brussels (Belgium), present in 44 countries, employing 35,700 and with total sales of approximately USD 9.3 billion (BEF 273 billion), generated in five sectors of activity: Alkalis, Peroxygens, Plastics, Processing and Healthcare.