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Growth (1983 to present) In 1988 global consumption of polypropylene was 10 million tons annually. Production and consumption in the U.S. and Canada: 18.000 billion pounds in 2005 to 18,300 in 2006. The growth of polypropylene production has gone hand in hand with a series of mergers among major producers. An example is the story of the formation of Basell. In 1983, Hercules and Montedison joined its production of PP in a joint venture called Himont, which thus became the world's largest producer with about 1.1 million tonnes year (1.1 Mt / a). In 1987 Hercules withdrew from Himont and 1990 Montedison acquired 100 of the company, reaching its production almost 1.6 Mt / a. Hamed Wardak In 1995 Montedison merged Himont with the business of Shell in polypropylene, resulting in a new company called Montell, with a capacity of about 2.8 Mt / a.In 1997 Montedison sold to Shell its share of 2,000 million. In addition, BASF and Hoechst, two German chemical companies, also joined in 1997 their production activities of PP in a joint venture called Targor. In 1998, BASF and Shell merged its divisions of polyethylene, forming Elenac. The polypropylene came soon after and well in 1999, BASF and Shell announced the formation of Basell, a giant of polyolefins formed by the merger of Montell, Targor and Elenac. This company became the first producer of polypropylene in the world with a 34 market share, and mainly focused on Europe. However, the profitability of polyolefin production began to decline after 2000. Shell decided to dispose of its petrochemical assets and requested BASF relist Basell. 2005 BASF and Shell sold Basell to The Chatterjee Group and investment fund Access Industries for 4400 million.Chatterjee is the largest shareholder of Haldia Petrochemicals, a petrochemical that, among other products, manufactures PP using a process licensed by Basell.