Korea Alcohol to shut down ethyl acetate unit

24 March 2008 06:50  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--South Korea’s sole ethyl acetate producer Korea Alcohol, is scheduled to shut down its 50,000 tonne/year ethyl acetate plant in Ulsan from 25 to 27 March to facilitate a catalyst change, a company official said on Monday.

"We would lose about 450 tonnes of product due to the outage," he said, adding that inventories in the country had dwindled from previous highs which were due to heavy imports from China from December to February.

In addition to limited supply, Korean spot rates also faced upward price pressure from rising raw material costs and the depreciating value of the South Korean won against the US dollar.   

"We have to raise offers of April loading cargoes due to high ethanol and acetic acid costs," he said. "The exchange rate is not in our favour as our raw materials are imported on a US dollar basis".

The drop of the US dollar against the Japanese yen to a 12-year low has given South Korean sellers an incentive to raise prices in its main market, Japan.

Offers of April-loading spot cargoes were raised to $1,150/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Japan, up $30-50/tonne from selling indications heard in mid-March and negotiations were expected to kick off in the coming weeks.

By: Helen Lee
+65 6780 4359

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