Acrylic fibre prices firmer on restricted production
Acrylic fibre (ASF) markets in Asia were silent in the last week of March, waiting for a demand turnaround while cost kept rising. In China, with some replenishing activities reported at downstream users in the week, prices tended to retain their levels for the moment. Many units restricted production to support pricing as demand was lukewarm. The average operating rate clocked 69%. In India, producers’ offer were unchanged but may increase for April given the jump in ACN cost during the week. In Pakistan, ASF prices remained unmoved in Karachi market at the moment.
European acrylic fibre sector was performing compared to previous two quarters. While output at some key ASF sites averaged 80%, there were concerns of squeeze created by current market conditions. There waws more competition between ASF players and PSF players as the price gap between the two was not wider at the moment.
Upstream, acrylonitrile (ACN) prices moved sideways in Asia with the FE marker easing and offers in China surging following substantial markups by producers, while sellers simply followed suit. European spot jumped due to tight supply. Some players opine that prices have reached a point that makes spot purchases unworkable. INEOS Nitriles Seal Sands site was shut again after it had resumed production around mid-March, but encountered issues and the process had to be aborted. Now the plant is expected to resume in mid-April. In the meantime, work will be carried out to try and delay a planned maintenance that was scheduled to take place in May. In US, formula-based March domestic contracts decreased while spot export prices rolled over.
Feedstock propylene spot prices in Asian markets were marginally lower on average as some length was built-up in Japan and prices in Shangdong trended down. In Europe, April contract price settled 2% higher while spot prices were higher on the back of the new contract price. In US, spot prices fell amid downstream outages and as delayed exports offset lower refinery rates.
