Market Overview
Quarterly Update on Global Vinyl Acetate Monomer Market
For the Quarter Ending September 2020
Asia
Spate of plant turnarounds from Taiwan and South Korea throughout the third quarter of 2020 tightened the overall availability of VAM cargoes in Southeast Asia. Thus, prices of VAM in Q3 of 2020 Southeast Asia averaged around USD 807 per MT influenced by its healthy demand fundamentals and scarce product availability. Despite the restricted availability, paramount producers like Celanese and Dairen Chemicals continued to operate their plants at reduced rates amid fears of uncertainty prevailing from the second wave of Coronavirus in several parts of the region. Downstream demand for derivatives like Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) and Poly Vinyl Acetate (PVA) witnessed marginal recovery in Northeast Asia as countries restarted their business activities to save the sputtering economy.
North America
Market fundamentals of Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) in North America remained weighed up buoyed by strong values of feedstock acetic acid and series of plant outages in the Gulf coast region due to a wave of seasonal hurricanes. Since much of the US VAM is used for catering the global demand, abrupt outages and logistic concerns restricted the trading activities, thereby confining the export revenue of the region. As per Celanese Corporation, 10% quarterly increment in demand from its major importer China was registered but the gains were overshadowed by the consistent availability of material due to high production rates in the native country.
Europe
The European Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) market witnessed severe supply issues primarily due to the turnaround of Celanese plant in Germany followed by few other temporary turnarounds in the region. Strong consumption from paints and coating sector on the arrival of summer season in the country bolstered its demand fundamentals. Although supply issues were resolved by the end of the quarter, momentum of recovery was hindered by the buzz of resurgence of Coronavirus in several parts of the region.
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Services
Market Analysis
Company-wise installed capacity, production volume and plant operating efficiency is captured directly from manufacturers. Import and Export volume is captured from government sources and demand for Acrylonitrile is calculated considering the production, import, export and inventory-levels on the country and regional level markets.
Pricing Analysis
Acrylonitrile price is correlated with the price trend of crude oil, demand-supply gap, Propylene and with movement across the downstream derivatives such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) etc.
Company Profile
Basic details and information on financial performance of leading global players in the Acrylonitrile market is presented in a visually captivating manner. Expansion plans and the company’s strategy is also captured to understand the vision and mission of the company to help understand the areas where companies need to focus more.
News & Deals
Daily updates on industry-specific and product-specific news, exclusive primary-based news capturing plant shutdowns/outages/closures, capacity expansions, operating rates, insights on demand-supply situation, awarding of technology licenses, new product launch and deals specifying mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and disinvestments, to help players capitalize on market opportunity.
Methodology
ChemAnalyst gathers information through primary research surveys conducted with various Vinyl Acetate Monomer manufacturers, spread across the domestic and international market, suppliers and dealers/distributors to gain insights into value-chains and demand-supply scenario to assess the market situation. Thorough study of company’s annual reports and secondary sources such as exhaustive search on credible paid databases, including our internal database is done to verify the information. All the collected information is analyzed, evaluated and presented in chronological order to depict a meaningful and clear picture of the concerned market.
Our dedicated team of industry experts comprehensively monitors and analyzes various aspects of the Global Vinyl Acetate Monomer market. The team analyzes various industrial segments, strategic viewpoints and provides an analysis of the industry’s performance in the long run. This would enable our clients in efficiently plan their future investments, mitigate risk, understand the cost dynamics and strike out a balance amidst market volatility.
Critical examination of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the global supply chains and shift in demand patterns with change in buying behavior of consumers across the globe.
Several ongoing development projects across industries are tracked, followed by the details of major projects in the development stage, which can positively or negatively influence Global Vinyl Acetate Monomer market.
Pricing is captured through exhaustive primary interviews with domestic and international manufacturers, traders and importers and customers on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
Finally, region-specific markets for Vinyl Acetate Monomer are analyzed and region-wise demand pattern is tracked.
About
Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) is a colorless organic chemical primarily produced by acetoxylation of Ethylene with Acetic Acid and Oxygen in presence of palladium catalyst in a fixed bed tubular reactor. The product is mainly utilized as an intermediate in the chemical industry to produce Vinyl Acetate Copolymers. By percentage segmentation, about 47% of overall VAM produced globally is channelized to manufacture Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA), which is a major compound in adhesives, water-based paints, paper coatings and acrylic fibers applications. Another 30 per cent is utilized to produce Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVOH) which is used as an intermediate in glass laminated and packaging films. The remaining percentage is processed to manufacture derivatives like Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), Vinyl Acetate Ethylene (VAE) and Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH). Since EVA and EVOH are widely being utilized in new potential applications like renewable energy and photovoltaic filaments, demand for feedstock VAM is likely to witness an appreciable surge in the coming years.
