Interquisa to lift FM on acetic acid and PTA 1 July

19 June 2008 17:26  [Source: ICIS news]

LISBON (ICIS news)--Spanish producer Interquisa will lift force majeure on its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production and acetic acid purchases on 1 July, market players reported from the sidelines of the European Petrochemical Luncheon in Lisbon on Thursday.

Interquisa has been on force majeure since the end of April for purchases of acetic acid following unplanned issues at its PTA unit in San Roque, Spain.

Acetic acid is a feedstock used in the production of PTA.

There were also reports that BP would lift its PTA force majeure at midnight on 22 June, although again these were not directly confirmed at source.

BP’s Geel, Belgium unit, with a nameplate capacity of 1m tonnes/year, has been on force majeure since 13 May.

PTA prices have been under significant upward pressure from high paraxylene costs in recent months, with major hikes in Asia looking like pushing up the July price.

The force majeure of Interquisa had given some customers more confidence of larger decreases during acetic acid contract negotiations for Q2, a buyer said.

The quarter two contracts for acetic acid were recently finalised and settled with a decrease of €80/tonne ($125/tonne) taking outright price assessments to €560-620/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (North west Europe), according to pricing intelligence service ICIS.

($1 = €0.64)

Ed Cox contributed to this story

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By: Jane Massingham
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