Tata Chemicals has pulled down the shutters on one of its three European manufacturing facilities as part of a plan to rationalise its operations. Brunner Mond Europe, owned by Tata Chemicals since February 2006, has two sites in Northwich, UK, and one in Delfzijl, Netherlands. Bosses at Tata Chemicals said that after an analysis of costs and productivity, they decided to close the Netherlands unit. The plant used to produce soda ash and sodium bicarbonate and employed 120 people. Soda ash is a raw material used to make detergents and glass, while sodium bicarbonate is a vital ingredient for manufacturing drugs, besides being used as a ‘raising agent’ for baking cakes and biscuits. Brunner Mond’s UK factories have around 450 people on its rolls. Tata Chemicals MD R Mukundan said the closure of Brunner Mond’s Netherlands unit would not affect the company’s UK operations. The Netherlands unit has been making losses even before Tata Chemicals came into the picture. On its part, Tata Chemicals tried to restructure its operations by cutting down costs. Rising energy and raw material costs deteriorated its financial health. The company had also put in Rs 100 crore for a sodium bicarbonate plant at the existing site but sustained stress on operating conditions made the unit unviable, compelling its closure. In addition to UK, Brunner Mond also operates soda ash unit in Kenya. Tata Chemicals has a total capacity of 5.5 million tonnes of soda ash, making it the world’s second largest soda ash producer, of which 1.3 tonnes are manufactured by Brunner Mond. Like Tata Chemicals, its siblings — Tata Motors and Tata Steel —are also reviewing overseas operations, including winding up their unprofitable units. Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford for $3 billion last year, has stated that it intends to close one of its car-making facilities in West Midlands, UK. Tata Steel, owner of UK’s Corus, has said it may close the Teesside Cast Products unit in northeast England, where it has 2,000 employees. The global economic conditions have forced the Tata group to look at extreme options in a bid to remain cost-competitive. “Currently, we are able to run the Teesside Cast Products plant at reduce/better costs. However, we are exploring all options for the unit,’’ said Corus CEO Kirby Adams at Tata Steel’s fiscal second quarter earnings conference on Tuesday.
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