For the Quarter Ending September 2021
North America
The overall market outlook of Dimethyl Amine showcased an upward trend in the 3rd quarter of 2021 across the North American region. The supply of upstream feedstock including Ammonia and Methanol improved from the last quarter resulting in high production of Dimethyl Amine in Q3. Demand for Dimethyl Amine remained bullish from the downstream pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals sector. Constrained availability of the feedstock due to high energy rates may result in some production lags for Dimethyl Amine in the upcoming quarter.
Asia
In the Asia Pacific region, the domestic market remained firm throughout the third quarter of 2021 backed by the strong demand outlook and ample availability of raw materials. Dimethyl Amine prices rallied upwards in tandem with positive prospects for the market estimates in India. The prices of Dimethyl Amine surged by a significant percentage in lieu of lower-than-expected impact of COVID on traded volumes, production margins, and operating leverage in the country. Dimethyl Amine Ex- Depot Chennai (India) price last stood at USD 812 per MT in September. A domestic manufacturer reported that its average capacity utilization at all amine plants was around 80% during Q2. A positive market outlook pushed up the prices for all amines since the first half of 2021.
Europe
The prices of Dimethyl Amine rose effectively in the European region during Q3 2021 on the back of the consistent demand from the downstream manufacturers. Increased feedstock prices and constrained production margins were the key factors that resulted in price increment in the region. Escalations in energy cost and recovering demand from the downstream agrochemicals sector pushed up the offers in Q3 2021. Imports from Asia remained high in this quarter.
For Quarter Ending June 2021
North America
Post winter storm several chemical commodities remained affected in USA, as the plants based in Texas underwent forced turnarounds. Entering May, major companies like Eastman and Celanese resumed their Dimethyl Amine manufacturing plant operations, which were halted due to the storm. Demand for Dimethyl Amine remained strong from downstream pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals sector. In addition, prolonged shortage of feedstock Ammonia and Methanol since mid-February led to an effective price hike during first half of the quarter. Therefore, taking support from soaring feedstock prices amidst stable to firm demand, prices of Dimethyl Amine showcased a decent rise during Q2 2021.
Asia
Being an active pharma ingredient, overall demand outlook of Dimethyl Amine remained strong in APAC region during this quarter. In China, prices of Dimethyl Amine rose quickly during first two month of Q2, due to active offtakes from pharmaceutical sector. While the Indian pharmaceutical sector purchased this commodity on need basis to abate losses; therefore, some fluctuations were also observed in the domestic market. Thus, prices of Dimethyl Amine were accessed at USD 866/MT for China and USD 604/MT for India during last week of April.
Europe
Dimethyl Amine showcased strong sentiments in Europe during this quarter, backed by firm offtakes from pharma and agrochemical segment. Firm values of feedstock Ammonia and Methanol also influenced the prices of Dimethyl Amine across the region, where the demand from domestic downstream sectors remained high enough to support the overall price trend. In addition, in the European market, demand for most of the Amines remained strong, which made prices to rise effectively during Q2 2021.
For the Quarter Ending March 2021
North America
Moderate to low demand from the domestic market, amidst low production rates led the prices of DMA to rise significantly till February. Severe shortage of major feedstock chemicals i.e., Methanol and Ammonia compelled its producers to raise their spot as well as contract prices during this period. This critical raw material shortage was led by forced shut down of major plants as an effect of chilling weather conditions across the US gulf coast. Operations at Dimethylamine and Trimethylamine plants of Celanese remained affected due to unplanned shutdowns and force majeure declarations in the Texas Gulf Coast, which in turn affected the product supplies across the Americas and EMEA region.
Asia
The Asian market showed mixed sentiments in the alkylamines market during Q1 2021. While in the Indian market Dimethylamine prices showed substantial growth till February but ended up falling lower than the January price i.e., at USD 570.8/MT in March. On the other side the Chinese DMA prices witnessed a steep growth till the end of February and hovered round USD 825/MT, which later stabilised in March. The demand primarily came from the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals sector, which remained the key performing sectors during the quarter. However, the price rise was majorly backed by high freight prices and feedstock shortage across the region.
Europe
The European market reported firm demand for DMA from the agrochemicals sector for making insecticides, with the market prospects turning positive with the arrival of spring season. Global feedstock shortage affected the availability of feedstock chemicals in the European region too, while the domestic production of specialty amines remained halted due to weather related complications. Offers for Dimethylamine showed a positive correction with manufacturers complaining about the delayed shipments of raw materials as the transportation faced difficulties due to snow in the area.
For the Quarter Ending December 2020
Asia
During Q4 2020, healthy recovery from COVID-19 was sufficient to boost the demand of DMA from the agrochemicals and petrochemical sectors across the APAC. Global shortage of feedstock Methanol skyrocketed its prices in major Asian countries especially in China. Major DMA manufacturers witnessed great demand from agriculture and pharmaceuticals sectors, which well supported its prices. Buoyed by demand upsurge, the price of DMA in the Indian market rose from USD 488.3/tonne (October 2020) to USD 547.5/tonne (December 2020).
North America
In the North American region, Dimethylamine market was heard grappling with acute raw material shortage. Canada was heard facing shortage of feedstock Methanol throughout the quarter. The shortage was induced as an effect of unplanned outages of major Methanol production producers across the region since Q2 2020. The demand remained robust with several cosmetic manufacturers reporting high demand due to shift in regional trends towards sustainability and wellness impact ingredients. Demand for Dimethylamine Hydrochloride (DMA-HCl) for pharmaceutical preparations remained high.
Europe
In Q4 2020, Europe had faced regional shortage in supply of feedstock Methanol and it derivative products including methylamine and Dimethylamine. There were several reasons behind this fall. One of them was fire broke out in the largest Methanol production unit of Europe i.e., Equinor’s plant of capacity 900,000 tonne/year in Norway. Meanwhile, EU announced to reduce the usage pesticides in upcoming years, which is against the market sentiments.
