Lantiche Group To Shut Down Italian Adipic Acid Production Plant

Lantian Group will close its adipic acid production plant in Italy.

The relevant production line has fallen into losses, partly due to intense competition from the Asian market. Approximately 140 jobs at the Novara plant are at risk of being cut.

RadiciGroup has recently informed the trade unions of its restructuring plan for its Novara plant in northern Italy.

The factory is operated by Landiche Chemical and focuses on the integrated production of nylon 66, which is the core raw material support for the group's composite materials modification business.

According to the restructuring plan, the company intends to shut down its adipic acid, nitric acid, and MAB production units. Adipic acid is one of the two monomer raw materials required to manufacture nylon 66. This shutdown will affect 140 of the nearly 300 employees at the plant.

The company stated that the Novara plant has recorded significant losses for three consecutive years and is also facing intense competition from Asian markets. In addition, high energy and raw material costs, coupled with the long-term structural weakness in demand from the automotive, textile, and construction sectors, have further intensified operating pressure.

Previously, Radici Chimica and Germany's Lanxess jointly filed a complaint, based on which the European Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on adipic acid imported from China.

Against this backdrop, the Group believes that the adipic acid production line at the Novara site no longer has any viable path to a turnaround. “This production unit is subject to the Seveso industrial safety regulations and is located on the outskirts of a major urban area, making continued operations likely to generate substantial losses. Therefore, the most responsible course of action is not to keep the production line running at all costs, but to focus resources on planning the future development of the site and properly arranging for the affected employees.”

The trade union in the chemical industry is waiting for the company's commitment to submit the employee placement plan by September 14. The plan must specify supporting measures, aiming to retain as many jobs as possible while also providing support for the redundancy placement work.

RadiciGroup’s Basic Chemicals and Engineering Plastics businesses, together with the DOMO Engineering Materials business unit of Belgium’s DOMO Group, were acquired this year by private equity firm Lone Star Funds.