Indian oxo-alcohol market is currently facing supply issues after Andhra Petrochemicals Limited (APL) announced maintenance shutdown of its Visakhapatnam plant in the second week of February. Andhra Petrochemicals caters to about 35-40% of the domestic oxo-alcohol demand with imports accounting for the rest. The company produces Isobutanol, 2-Ethylhexanol and n-Butanol and is currently the sole producer of oxo-alcohols in India with annual capacity of 73,000 tonnes. Oxo-alcohols are primarily consumed for manufacturing PVC plasticizers. The company is procuring Propylene, which is the key raw material, from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (HPCL) Vishakhapatnam refinery through a long-term contract. On account of restricted supply and almost negligible inventories, the domestic prices of oxo-alcohols showed a sudden spike in price by 2 per cent this week. The company is expecting to resume operations by March this year.
