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#I don't know that we can speak for the industry.
I would tell you our operating rate profile because of the seasonal aspects around chlorine and bleach will grow ---+ will be higher in April, higher in May, higher in June.
This is <UNK>.
We do have exports.
We have a good portfolio of export business that we will move in and out of over time depending on the market conditions.
We really don't give out a percentage.
It's in the 8% to 10% of our third-party sales.
This is <UNK> again.
As far as the overall market goes there was some an initial tightening immediate on-the-spot market from the explosion and so forth but we're still waiting to see exactly how that plant is going to run over time and whether it's a longer-term impact.
I think we're still in the wait and see mode there.
I don't think we sell any caustic sodas at DuPont anymore.
It's a very small amount.
Most of the caustic consumption products that were part of historically part of DuPont were part ---+ are now part of Chemours.
Not near as much as with the Chemours business when that company was created.
No, Sir.
To put it in perspective HCl pricing whether you're talking about fourth quarter or first quarter or second quarter is significantly lower than has been historically.
So that's important to note because we're talking about numbers significantly different than what we saw a year ago when HCl pricing peaked.
For the first quarter HCl pricing was impacted by the continued delayed startup of a couple of new plants that were bringing HCl burners online and were supposed to start up the end of the year.
Those startups have been delayed.
So that additional capacity did not come to market.
The other side of what occurred in January was that the part of capacity that is ---+ comes from other producers that's by-product HCl, that volume was off in January as well.
It's not changed materially, no.
It's being driven by the market and by what's happening in the oil and gas patch and to some extent some other in markets that are just weak now.
<UNK> the capacity that Olin had was about 10% of it's ECUs or 200,000 tons.
The Dow acquisition did not add any capacity.
So what we're selling is essentially unchanged other than the weaker markets so there is less demand.
Herb this is <UNK>.
The foreign currency exchange in our results the amount was immaterial and it was very small in the first quarter.
The stock-based compensation number is now closer to $300,000 to $400,000 as opposed to the old $700,000 number.
Yes it is because of the payout last ---+ at the end of last year for deferred compensation.
We didn't talk about how much our chlorine price was up specifically.
We just said it was up and we said the index was up.
Give us two seconds we can tell you ---+
The index is up in April, $20 a ton.
Demand really hasn't changed.
What is changing is supply.
Companies like Olin have the capability to use chlorine to either make HCl or use chlorine and sell it is chlorine.
So with some improvement in pricing and improvement in demand on the chlorine side a producer like Olin with capability will actually reduce HCl production, use the chlorine where it generates more value and tighten up the supply side of the HCl market at the same time.
Not all producers are created equally in terms of their capability to do that.
Some are and some I would guess our maybe looking at it the same way that we look at it.
But it's really supply side.
We have not seen any real ---+ any real return of demand.
This is <UNK> <UNK>.
There's three major initiatives that we been embarking on.
The first one has been around, improving our productivity and our cost structure.
The second area around just better utilizing our upstream and midstream capacity.
So running our plants harder and lowering those unit costs.
And thirdly, which is a little bit more difficult is to move more downstream and to really change the mix of more differentiated type of offerings.
Those are the three key areas that we continued focus on and we will continue to drive improvement in Epoxy.
No, we've been showing continued improvement here.
As we mentioned earlier from Q4 to Q1.
We've got to maintenance turnarounds in Q2.
Q2 will be just a bit better.
When you take out the maintenance.
So we see just ongoing continued improvement in Epoxy.
The biggest thing we buy is electricity.
With the Dow acquisition, the majority ---+ the larger part of that electricity is now based on natural gas.
We've obviously seen benefits from that.
We saw gas hit some pretty low levels in Q1.
I would also say that the lower level of natural gas prices has actually caused the electricity purchased by the heritage Olin business to go down in sympathy.
I would say from a materials standpoint that's the biggest single thing.
And that has been a positive and we called that out.
No.
Propylene, benzene those are formula-based contracts and there's really no material effect in the way we manage that upstream part of our business.
No.
<UNK> we really wouldn't comment on that.
I think overall the volume is really being driven throughout the whole Epoxy value chain whether be the upstream or the midstream LER we just continue to be aggressive and running our plants harder and taking share with our low-cost position.
Yes.
Most of the area where we saw pricing attrition was in the midstream in the liquid epoxy resins and to a little extent solid epoxy resins.
All of that pressure was coming from Asian imports and we were being competitive and making sure that we keep running our plants hard.
I really can't comment on the downstream movement on epoxy prices.
That's literally hundreds or thousands of products there and it's a very broad mix.
I really can't ---+ I don't have a good answer for that.
We have seen in the Olin system a tightening of our availability to where we've had to turn away customers a couple of times.
We've also seen a couple of instances where imported product was available to certain people historically that recently haven't been as available.
We think both of those facts are sustainable over the longer-term.
I think the Europe thing should not be underestimated in terms of its potential impact on the North American market and on the global market because there's a million tons that's potentially not there.
The other thing I would point to the comment that we made about exports going ---+ exports for alumina that have gone from zero in 2008 to 360,000 tons in 2015 and we have evidence that suggests that that's growing further in 2016.
That is I think the best evidence we have to suggest the supply demand balance we discussed around China is changing.
This is <UNK>.
The spot in contract, there will always be some kind of relationship there.
But as you know spot prices are going to go with the demand and the exports and that's what's taking place right now so there will be relationship there.
I can't comment on exactly what that is going to look like over a long period of time.
We have not noticed any material differences as a result of the somewhat small improvement in oil prices.
Yes.
This is <UNK>.
Domestically here in the U.S. it's not really a robust market.
We might see 1% to 2% growth this year.
In Europe I would say it's more optimistic.
In Europe we see in the neighborhood of 3.5% to 4.5% type growth rates over there.
It's a bigger epoxy market in Europe as well.
That's right.
I think you're looking at industrial production as probably as good a proxy as any.
Industrial production has been fairly anemic year domestically.
I think what you've seen over a long period of time is a shrinking of the amount of merchant chlorine that is available in the market as producers like Olin, <UNK> <UNK> talked about HCl going back and forth.
Olin continues to expand bleach.
Bleach is continuing to grow as a product.
And I think what you're seeing is both constrained supply and then seasonal pickup in demand and you can get price increases.
I think the same thing applies.
Thank you for joining us today and we look forward to talking to you at the end of the second quarter.
