Another Delay For Thirumalai

The plan was to produce 90,000 tpa of pthalic anhydride (PAN), 12,000 tpa of fumaric acid and 5,000 tpa of maleic acid more. The project was scheduled to start in June 1996.

Though no reason was attributed by the management for the delay which occurred earlier, this time around, they said there has been an inordinate delay in receiving a catalyst.

However, the expanded capacity is not expected to go on stream in February because very rarely does a company start commercial production in the last two months of the year as stabilisation in production takes time which,in this effects margins. According to industry sources, production may start in April 1997.

Up on the commencement of additional capacity, Thirumalai will become the largest producer of PAN at one location.

Performance of the company has been far from impressive in the first half of 1996-97.

For the six months ended September 1996, at Rs 62.26 crore, sales dropped by 25 per cent as PAN prices remained weak.

However, the company managed to achieve better profit margins at the operational level as drop in the cost of materials was much higher.

Operating profits margin improved by one percentage point to 21.4 per cent.

The fall in the