Steve Bender: And so in terms of the businesses within PEM, it was in our core vinyl’s business. And I would say that we obviously took corrective action in the second quarter, and I think those issues are behind us as we are into the third quarter at this stage.
Albert Chao: And for our turnaround concerned, there are always more turnaround going on, but nothing major.
Matthew Blair: Okay. Sounds good. And then, Albert, I think you mentioned that you’re matching production with demand. Could you clarify when you run your ECU assets, are you matching up to the caustic demand in the market or to chlorine demand in the market?
Albert Chao: It depends on the products and markets and pricing, certainly, we would look out for all these areas. Right now, the PVC demand is in the construction season that’s stronger and cost of demand is a bit weaker, caustic price has been coming down globally and every month gradually. So until the industrial activity picks up, economy picks up, caustic is becoming weaker.
Matthew Blair: Okay. And are you running to meet all of that marine demand? And I guess the implication is that — would that mean that the caustic side is oversupply?
Albert Chao: It’s a combination. We have plans integrated to chlorine PVC, and we have plans to not integrate it. So depending where they are, and the market situation in those areas we adjust.
Matthew Blair: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you
Albert Chao: You’re welcome.
Operator: Thank you. One moment, please. Our next question comes from the line of Arun Viswanathan from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.
Arun Viswanathan: Great. Thanks for taking my question. Hope you well. Just wanted to look into the PBC side, you noticed some weakness maybe in terms driven by approximate EBIT. what are your comments on PBC as you head into the rest of the year, there’s been obviously some volatility on the ethane and ethylene side — is that affecting PVC? And then similarly, building products and the housing market with your outlook for PVC market?
Albert Chao: As we said earlier, PVC market has turned tighter export prices improved, demand being a seasonal quarter, has increased domestically and internationally. So there’s price announcements for both August and September, domestically in the U.S. And if you look at the consultants’ view of pricing, they think in this pretty, pretty much flat from now maybe it will increase in third quarter, down a little bit in the fourth quarter and also looking at prices improving next year. So I think just from general view of the market, it seems PVC is stabilized and it’s improving going forward.
Arun Viswanathan: And I just wanted to also ask about the compounding and European side. Are there any nuances that you’d add to your comments as it refers to that part of the business? Thanks.
Albert Chao: Yeah. So Arun, the compounding business has been a nice business. We — as you know, the markets that we’re addressing really are the wire and cabling business, the medical and auto businesses. That business continues to perform well. As we think about some of the contributions we’ve been making really in the wire and cabling business, we’ve mentioned the strength we’ve seen really in the infrastructure bill, and part of that is Internet connectivity. And certainly, we also see that were in cabling going into the construction markets as we see housing starts. Of course, the auto business, the medical businesses have their own cycles, but continue to be good markets at this stage. And so we’re pleased with that compounding business, both domestically as well as in Europe
Arun Viswanathan: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. One moment, please. Our next question comes from the line of Vincent Mangiere from Morgan Stanley. You may proceed.
Turner Hinrichs: Hi. This is Turner Hinrichs on for Vincent. You commented that you’re optimistic about the longer-term opportunity from public and private investments in US infrastructure and construction, can you size the degree of exposure Westlake has to these medium-term tailwinds? We generally think of Westlake as having more residential and nonresidential exposure. So any color and potential sizing of the opportunity would be helpful.
Steve Bende: Yeah. And so when you think of our Infrastructure Products business, our pipe business, we are seeing the majority of that going into residential construction, but certainly, there is a significant portion not 50%, but a significant portion, nevertheless, that is a larger diameter pipe that is well suited for the infrastructure bill that we see that’s $55 billion. that is sizable that will address the infrastructure needs the country has. So we think we’re very well positioned to be able to address those needs for counties and municipalities.
