Chemanol assessing COVID-19 impact, likely to reschedule debts: CEO

Methanol Chemicals Co. (Chemanol) expects the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis to reflect on its Q2 2020 results, CEO Ali Al-Asiri told CNBC Arabia, adding that the company is assessing this impact, which could be better than expected.

Chemanol’s shift to produce medical ethanol at its mono pentaerythritol resulted in marginal costs. The company will provide 1,400 tons of medical ethanol monthly to the Ministry of Health.

This move will pay off within the next few years. Medical ethanol might be among the company’s products in the long term, Al-Asiri said.

Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Chemanol was in talks with banks and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) on rescheduling SAR 500 million long-term loans.

The banks approved the plan in principle and the talks result will be announced soon, the top official added, noting that Chemanol will likely reschedule those debts and repay them with more flexibility.

Chemanol recently expected the COVID-19 global restrictions, in addition to the challenges facing the transport and shipment of goods to impact business directly or indirectly as exports constitute a large part of sales.