Ingevity to close Louisiana site

Ingevity has announced that it will close its site at DeRidder, Louisiana, by the end of 1H 2024 plus other cost reduction actions. Combined with previously announced cuts, these are expected to yield savings of $65-75 million/year from 2024 onwards.

DeRidder makes a range of products based on crude tall oil (CTO), primarily for the Industrial Specialties business. The company is seeking to transition away from CTO-based fatty acids and towards those based on soy, canola and others. This is because of the high costs of CTO as a result of demand from the biofuels market.

“What we are doing today is an important step toward achieving our strategic objectives of improving the profitability and reducing the cyclicality of the Performance Chemicals business and the company as a whole,” said president and CEO John Fortson.

About 300 jobs will be cut. Ingevity expects to incur aggregate charges of about $280 million in asset-related charges, severance and other employee-related costs and other restructuring costs, which include decommissioning, dismantling and removal charges, and contract termination costs.