Feedstock Inadequacy causing Ethyl Acetate prices to Surge in Europe
- 21-Jun-2022 4:41 PM
- Journalist: Harold Finch
Karlsruhe, Germany: Amidst feedstock unavailability and rising demand for Ethyl Acetate in the German market, the prices of Ethyl Acetate have been surging in the region. Europe has been witnessing a tight supply of feedstock Acetic Acid for a while now, and it has been severely affecting the market value of its downstream products. The situation worsened when Celanese, a US-based manufacturing company, declared force majeure for acetic acid, VAM, and several other items due to a lack of raw materials.
Furthermore, INEOS had to announce force majeure because it couldn't cater to customers' demand through exchange and swaps during planned maintenance. These disruptions in the supply chain in The USA market have impacted the European Ethyl Acetate market. Besides, Europe could not expect a large volume of feedstock Acetic Acid imports from Asian countries as the offtake of Acetic Acid has been growing stronger in the Asian Countries. Hence, the Acetic Acid production in Asia would be kept in Asia for now, and it would be flowing in minimal quantity to the foreign countries.
In addition, the downstream demand for Ethyl Acetate from paints, lacquers, and varnishes industries is robust in the domestic market of Europe, which in turn is soaring its market value in the country. Altogether, hampering the supply chain due to the tightened feedstock market and enhancing demand from end-user industries are the two major factors driving the upward Ethyl Acetate market in Europe.
As per ChemAnalyst anticipations, "In Europe, the market value of Ethyl Acetate would keep surging for now, until the supply tightness of feedstock Acetic Acid gets resolved in the country. There is a chance of prices becoming stagnant or at least lower a bit after major Acetic Acid manufacturers discontinue their declared force majeures and start their manufacturing again. As nothing is clear, it is tough to predict anything for the long run."