Europe phenol market bullish, acetone oversupplied

04 June 2008 15:36  [Source: ICIS news]

BUDAPEST (ICIS news)--There were reasons to be bullish about the European phenol market but acetone capacity did not match up to demand and it “needed to find a home”, said an industry player on Wednesday.

 

“Bring it to Asia and recycle it,” Georg Buellesbach, director of specialty chemicals at the German unit of Mitsui & Co, said of acetone at the 5th ICIS World Phenol/Acetone Conference here. “European producers need to export acetone in order to balance capacities.”

 

For phenol, however, he saw a different picture highlighting that 360,000 tonnes/year was missing from the Asian market.

 

“New BPA [bisphenol-A] capacities coming on stream in Korea and Thailand will mean that they [the producers] will exit the merchant market, so into 2009 the market was still looking tight,” said Buellesbach, who predicted polycarbonate growth in Asia to remain healthy at 6-7%.

 

Looking to China, demand for phenolic resins was expected to remain strong with healthy growth from the construction sector and gross domestic product (GDP) at about 11% per annum.

 

He was slightly more upbeat about the acetone situation in China too with demand for solvents “expected to grow” and said the country would need phenol-acetone imports over the next three years.

 

“We see continued strong growth in China but regulations could have a negative impact,” said Buellesbach, adding anti-dumping was a possible problem for European producers.

By: Julia Meehan
+44 20 8652 3214

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