Carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers in Shandong province of east China have cut operation rates, and some of them have even shut down their units on poor margins amid economic crisis, said local producers on Tuesday. Major carbide-based PVC producers Dezhou Petrochemical, Shandong Haihua Chemical and Qingdao Haijing are now operating at 20-30% rates at their respective units with capacities of 70,000 tonne/year, 200,000 tonne/year and 160,000 tonne/year, while Xinfa Huayu is running at 50% at its 200,000 tonne/year plant, said company sources. In additional, Dezhou PC, Haihua and Qingdao Haijing are planning to shut down during November, hence leaving only Qilu Petrochemical and Xinfa Huayu to keep working at that time. Shandong province served as one of the biggest production bases for PVC in China, being home to 14 PVC producers with a total capacity of 2.15m tonnes/year. The PVC market has seen huge price plunges since the second half of July when carbide-based PVC was at yuan CNY8,900-9,000/tonne ($1,299-1,314/tonne) EWXH all regions in China. It is currently traded at CNY5,800-5,900/tonne EWXH, down more than 50%.