DATE : 2014-03-14
LyondellBasell has declared force majeure on its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production out of its plant at La Porte, TX, company sources confirmed. The 400,000 m.t./year unit is the second VAM unit to have declared force majeure in the US this week. DuPont's 350,000 m.t./year plant also at La Porte, TX, declared force majeure earlier this week. The plants are at different sites and the outages are unrelated, IHS Chemical says. Notional VAM spot prices in the US have ranged around $1,200-1,500/m.t. fob US Gulf (USG) this week, up from the $1,150-1,200/m.t. fob USG observed last week, according to IHS Chemical data. Albeit with limited availability, some transactions have been concluded in Europe, where prices have also jumped. From €1,050-1,120/m.t. ($1,461-1,559) del Northwest Europe (NWE) last week, spot prices have moved up to about €1,450-1,650/m.t. this week, the same data shows.
"The US VAM capacity is about 1.7 million m.t./year, the two unplanned outages effectively take out over 40% of the US capacity, exacerbating the supply tightness currently being observed worldwide," says Mike Nash, global director/syngas chemicals at IHS Chemical. The unscheduled stoppages take place close to planned maintenances and at a point in the cycle when seasonal VAM demand—into the paints and coatings industry—usually peaks.
SOURCE Chemweek's Business Daily