Published on October 5, 2017

There has been continuous surge in ACN prices in Asian markets. The surge has been more than 30% in last two months. With golden week holidays in China market the hike is likely to settle down in Asian markets. Majority of the buyers tend to stay away in China during these holidays. Thi sin turn has led to slowdown in ACN and other feedstock values.

This unexpected rise has been particularly due to shut down of many ACN China based units and shut down of ACN  units in US due to Harvey.

Qilu Petrochemical unit based in China has not been restarted yet having the production capacity of 80,000 mt/year. Jilin Petrochemical’s having capacity of 106,000 tonne/year No 1 ACN unit in northeastern China was taken off line on 12 June for the same reason and is expected to be restarted this month. Its othe unit having the production capacity of 120,000 tonne/year capacity was also shut on 9 August and resumed production in late September.
Most market participants attributed the sharp price rise to reduced supply in Asia caused by unexpected shutdowns of some Chinese plants and following a production disruption at a major facility in the US.

CFR Far East Asia prices of ACN were assessed at the level of USD 1905/mt levels, hike of USD 35/mt while CFR South Asia prices were assessed at the USD 1820/mt levels, a week on week gain of USD 5/mt.

CFR South East Asia prices were assessed higher at the USD 1825/mt levels, a rise of USD 15/mt from the previous week.