January 10 (SeeNews) - Polish chemicals producer Ciech said on Friday that it will keep all workers and managers at its Govora soda plant in Romania, hoping that the facility will soon resume production if steam supply is provided.
Following a meeting between company officials and the Romanian government in November, Ciech Soda Romania has decided to further keep production assets in a stand-by mode in the following weeks, it said in a press release.
"It is a serious commitment on our part and we hope that all discussions on providing a steam source for our factory will materialize. We call on the authorities and we hope that all political statements on collaboration and solutions will be followed by concrete results," Ciech Soda Romania general director Witold Urbanowski said.
In September, Ciech said it was forced to temporarily halt production at the soda plant in Ramnicu Valcea due to the suspension of process steam supplies, as the contract with the supplier CET Govora based in Ramnicu Valcea was terminated. CET Govora has been insolvent since May 2016.
Ciech said earlier that over the past several years, it had rescued the Romanian plant from bankruptcy and made enormous efforts to develop it. The group said that it had invested over 100 million euro ($110 million) in Romania from 2006-2018.
The Romanian plant is one of four soda factories within the Ciech Group. The other three are located in Poland and Germany and have their own sources of technological steam. Ciech Soda Romania is the smallest soda production company in the group.
In October, Ciech Soda Romania said it plans to build a new thermal power plant in Ramnicu Valcea in order to ensure steam deliveries to the soda factory which produces soda ash, water glass, sodium silicate and soda derivatives.
($= 0.9015 euro)