WILMINGTON, Delaware. On May 7th DuPont Performance Elastomers communicated with customers that at the end of June the business will cease production of Hypalon® chlorosulfonated polyethylene at its facility in Beaumont, Texas and will begin to exit the business. This step is necessary in view of the significant deterioration of sales volume in all major regions and end-use market segments and our assessment that this business has ceased to be sustainable over the long-term. As an example, the facility has been mostly idled since fourth quarter 2008 due to lack of demand.

This has been a difficult decision given DPE’s long history of supplying this line of products to the marketplace. DPE is working with customers and have advised them that DPE will attempt to meet a portion of their needs before ceasing operations in order to lessen the impact of this action. Safe and reliable operation of this manufacturing process is a key consideration relative to shutdown timing.

Update as 10/16/2009

Since the announcement on 5/7/2009 to exit from the Hypalon® business, DuPont Performance Elastomers has worked with its customers to assess their Hypalon® material needs to support them through the transition. As a result of this assessment, DPE has determined that the plant will most likely run through the first quarter 2010 in order to safely produce quality material to satisfy customer requests.