US acetic acid FOB export prices held steady during the week ended 2 August, according to market sources.
Following a slight $25/tonne (€18/tonne) increase at the end of July, prices held as feedstock methanol jumped on tighter supply and plant issues while energy prices declined.
Celanese said its Clear Lake acetic acid plant was running at or near maximum operating rates and was scheduled for a maintenance outage in the third quarter.
In feedstock US methanol, the August contract postings rose to 137-138 cents/gal, the highest point for the monthly range since late 2008, according to prices issued by two major producers.
Spot barge prices continued to move up, reaching 118-120 cents/gal by the end of the week. Sources cited the recent outage at Methanex’s Atlas plant in Trinidad as a big reason for the move.
Some buyers expected an increase, though the 10-11 cents/gal hike came as a surprise to most of them. One buyer said Methanex took advantage of the troubles at its plant in Trinidad.
Methanex’s posted price for August was 138 cents/gal, and that of Southern Chemical Corp. (SCC) was 137 cents/gal. The increases came after six straight months of rollovers at 126-128 cents/gal and shocked some buyers and traders.
Energy prices declined. NYMEX front-month natural gas futures closed at $4.15/MMBtu, down by 5% from a close at $4.37/MMBtu a week earlier. Front-month NYMEX crude futures closed at $93.79/bbl, a drop of 6% from $99.59/bbl a week earlier.
($1 = €0.70)
This week on ICIS news ( www.icis.com ):
29-Jul-11 21:12 Eastman's Sterling purchase to keep long-term acetic tie with BP
29-Jul-11 00:22 US methanol contract prices almost reach 3-year high on outages
28-Jul-11 23:05 US Methanex says outages, supply issues raising methanol prices
28-Jul-11 05:20 Methanex Q2 net profit nearly triples on strong methanol prices
27-Jul-11 19:50 Methanex nominates 138 cents/gal for August US methanol, up 8%
