Arkema to restructure Jarrie site focus on key chemical sectors

Arkema France presented to the Central Works Council a project to reorganize the activities of its Jarrie site in order to ensure its future by refocusing on the hydrogen peroxide, chlorate and perchlorate activities, sectors in which Arkema is one of the world leaders. The Jarrie site has been impacted since 23 October 2024, by the abrupt cessation of its salt supply by its historical supplier Vencorex, which has been placed in receivership by its Thai shareholder PTT GC. This project, which will allow the consolidation and development of Jarrie’s major product lines, would result in the shutdown of the chlorine, soda, methyl chloride and technical fluids production activities and the loss of 154 jobs.

Since Vencorex went into receivership on 10 September 2024, Arkema has sought to identify viable, sustainable and competitive alternative industrial solutions to continue the activities of its Jarrie site, as the lack of an alternative supply of salt, in quantity and of a quality comparable to that of Vencorex, was a strong threat to maintaining the activity of the entire site.

Arkema France plans to reorganise its Jarrie site, impacted by the loss of its salt supplier Vencorex.
The site will focus on hydrogen peroxide, chlorate, and perchlorate production, resulting in the shutdown of chlorine, soda, methyl chloride, and technical fluids activities, with 154 job cuts by late 2025.
A redeployment plan will support affected employees during the transition.

An alternative scheme, based on a salt that requires no additional purification to be used directly by some of the existing units, has been studied in detail. While this salt ensures the sustainability of the site’s hydrogen peroxide, chlorate and perchlorate units, it is not compatible in terms of specifications, cost and quantity, with maintaining all of the activities of the Jarrie site.

The shutdown of the chlorine, soda, methyl chloride and technical fluids production activities, as well as the resulting reorganization of the entire site, will lead to the loss of 154 positions out of a total of 344.

All employees affected by job cuts will be assisted as part of a redeployment plan. A professional HR support cell will be set up on site as soon as possible to look into each situation individually and to facilitate internal mobility or a search for external solutions where necessary. The job cuts are expected to take place between mid-2025 and end of 2025.

Upon the conclusion of the redeployment plan, the Jarrie site will retain its hydrogen peroxide, chlorate and perchlorate activities, sectors in which Arkema is one of the world leaders and whose development will be supported by the growth of applications in the recycling of electric vehicle batteries, electronics and the environment for hydrogen peroxide, as well as in the aerospace sector for perchlorate.

Arkema recalls the following facts:

1. The salt procurement contract with Vencorex, which has been in place since 1968 and is in force until 2027, is no longer fulfilled following the receivership of Vencorex decided by its shareholder, PTT GC, itself partly owned by the Thai petrochemical group PTT, which reported around US$90 billion sales in 2023. These historical links with many industrial players were the key to the smooth running of the entire chemical chain south of Grenoble.

2. The salt supplied by Vencorex is very difficult to substitute as it meets very particular technical specifications.

3. The teams have actively studied several solutions aimed at protecting all of the site’s activities to ensure its sustainability. The first scenarios under consideration required a commitment from PTT GC to ensure a transition period of one to three years in order to implement a technically reliable and economically sustainable solution.

4. In a letter dated 29 November 2024, Vencorex’s shareholder, expressly declined to be part of a solution that would ensure the continuation of the salt activity. Hence Arkema has had to find new solutions to ensure a sustainable supply of salt necessary to save part of the site’s activities.

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Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)

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