Responding to increased feedstock cost and continued weak demand, the Polyolefins and Elastomers Business Group of Dow Chemical Co., Houston, has begun idling about 885 million lbs of PE-manufacturing capacity in North America. The cutback, coupled with previous capacity idling of 600 million lbs since mid-2001, brings total idled PE-resin capacity at Dow to more than 1.4 billion lbs. Based on current demand, the idling of these assets will not affect customer supply, Dow says.

The Films Business of ExxonMobil Chemical, Macedon, NY, completes an expansion of an OPP-film manufacturing plant in Shawnee, OK. ExxonMobil Chemical expects the plant's new 6.6-meter orienter to reach full manufacturing capacity this fall for opaque film for label and packaging applications.