Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation on Wednesday said that its plants were shutdown in the forenoon on January 7 due to urgent need to carry out repairs to critical equipment (urea reactor) and attend to essential shutdown jobs. The company further said it expects to resume the operations by early February. However, SPIC did not mention the nature of the problems and their financial and production implications. Shares of the company slipped 0.53 per cent at ₹27.95 on the NSE.