With insufficient supplies and increasing downstream offers, the largest Caustic Soda producer in India, GACL (Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited), with a production capacity of 1087 TPD, has expanded its manufacturing capacity of Caustic Soda Lye plant from 785 MTPD to 1310 MTPD at its Dahej site of Gujarat (India).

Meanwhile, as a part of this expansion, a new 700 MTPD Caustic Evaporation Unit (CEU) was also commissioned to fulfill the requirement of product production. The Unit has been commissioned successfully in India and was supplied by Alfa Laval, Sweden. The 700 MTPD CEU is one of the biggest capacities in the country at a single location. Moreover, the Business Unit President Alfa Laval-Karin Forsberg from Sweden and several officials have visited Dahej, Gujarat, to handle the ceremony of the newly established CEU.

On the current prices side, Caustic Soda input cost inflation accelerated by the soaring upstream energy prices and elevated weekly prices of the commodity in the week ending 3 March 2023. Moreover, market sentiments slightly improved in the downstream industries, such as the cleaning sector of India. Furthermore, the fears of a heat wave have resulted in the upward momentum of energy prices this week and raised input cost pressure on the Caustic Soda market players in India, limiting production activities this week. Meanwhile, the current price trend of Caustic Soda has been supported by the increase in domestic offers as cargo traffic escalated at the primary ports of India in February 2023 amidst weak export demand and a global economic slowdown diminishing export inquiries.

According to ChemAnalyst prediction, "The Caustic Soda is likely to witness stagnancy in the prices due to further escalation in the production and anticipated stability in the demand from the end-user textile and Aluminium metal sectors in March 2023. At the same time, the export prices of Caustic Soda are expected to be influenced by the bearish market sentiments at the termination of the first Quarter of 2023 due to the persistent effect of a global slowdown and ample stocks in the international market.