MIDLAND, Mich. - The Dow Chemical Co. and its affiliated companies in Europe announced the full resumption of acrylates production operations in Boehlen, Germany, and Clear Lake, Texas, where equipment failures caused sudden, unplanned outages in September. The separate and unrelated events forced the company to declare force majeure for acrylic acid and esters production at both manufacturing sites. The company said that due to the ongoing effects of the events, it continues to maintain area-specific product allocation levels.

Doug May, Global Business director for Dow Acrylates, said several factors had depleted inventories and produced an industry-wide shortage for acrylates products even before the production outages. "These factors include unusually high demand and unplanned manufacturing events announced by multiple producers throughout the industry, which heightened the effect of our own short supply," he said.

May said Dow has "resolved the issues associated with the critical equipment failures" and is working to "optimize our assets and efficiency in production. We are investing significant resources to improve both the capability and reliability of our acrylic acid and esters units."

Dow acquired the acrylic acid and esters business of Celanese in the first quarter of this year in a transaction that made Dow one of the largest global producers of acrylic acid and esters and the world's largest acrylates merchant-market participant. Acrylic acid is used to produce acrylic esters, which are used in acrylic latex emulsions for paint and coatings, adhesives and other products.