Polyacetal (POM) activity in Europe is limited this week as many players are on summer holidays and businesses have shut down for annual maintenance.
Offtake is softer, as expected, and is likely to pick up as usual in September. Buying interest, particularly from the automotive industry, should be at a healthy level in September, as stocks are rebuilt. Demand is also expected to remain good at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Availability remains balanced with current requirements.
Upstream, Europe methanol was turbulent last week, with spot prices gaining €13-15/tonne FOB Rotterdam before losing €11/tonne with a flurry of deals on Friday afternoon.
The reason for the increases was primarily supply concerns, with particular reference to the 1.7m tonne/year Atlas plant in Trinidad, which went down unexpectedly just over two weeks ago.
Although buying interest in the European polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) market is now subdued, owing to the summer holidays, underlying demand remains healthy.
However, most anticipate a slower second half of the year compared with the robust levels seen in the first half of 2011. Some say the fourth quarter is the low season, while others feel that demand will be somewhat weaker than the very high levels seen in the same period in 2010.
BASF’s force majeure on PBT base polymer and compounds is still in place, and production at the 100,000 tonne/year facility in Schwarzheide, Germany is expected to return to normal rates in autumn. BASF declared force majeure on 7 June, due to a shortage of feedstock butanediol (BDO).
Activity in the upstream European BDO market is muted this week as the majority of players are on summer holidays. Supply remains limited, and most plants are running on low inventories. There are few volumes available on the spot market.
The force majeure on BDO at Germany's BASF remains in place and will run into September. Its customers are now on a 60% allocation quota. A fire at a precursor plant at the facility on 30 May damaged its feedstock acetylene plant, and the producer declared force majeure on 31 May.
($1 = €0.70)
This week on ICIS ( www.icis.com ):
09/08/2011 12:20 European chems shares rocked by major sell-offs in global markets
09/08/2011 11:09 Crude slumps as fears of double-dip recession build
09/08/2011 06:25 Asia petrochemical stocks tumble as US crude slumps below $80/bbl
