Arkema lifted force majeure on its acrylates just before it announced the new sales controls.

The company did not indicate how long the sales controls would be in effect, but said in a letter to customers that it is experiencing strong demand.

 Arkema declared force majeure on its acrylates on 31 August, stemming from production and transportation problems arising from Hurricane Harvey, which struck the US Gulf coast on 25 August. Arkema shut down its American Acryl plant in Bayport, Texas – a joint venture with Nippon Shokubai subsidiary NA Industries – just ahead of Harvey's landfall.

Although the plant restarted in September, the precautionary shutdown and other producers' outages during and after the storm tightened supply throughout the domestic market in an environment of steady, healthy buying interest.

October's acrylates increases moved the GAA range, for example, to 0.98-1.06/lb ($2,161-2,337/tonne) FD (free delivered), as assessed by ICIS.

Source Icis News