Jiangsu Sopo turns around Zhenjiang acetic acid

26 June 2008 11:52  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Jiangsu Sopo, one of China’s largest acetic acid producers, shut its 600,000 tonne/year plant at Zhenjiang, eastern Jiangsu province, on Wednesday for scheduled maintenance, a company official said on Thursday.

“Operations will resume in early July,” he said.

Prices in the domestic market were stable-to-firm this week, although the recent price run-up due to tight supply was showing signs of slowing down amid softening demand.

Eastern China acetic was traded at yuan (CNY) 6,800-7,200/tonne ($990-1,048/tonne) ex-tank at the close of business, against deals concluded last week at CNY6,700-7,250/tonne ex-tank.

“We do not foresee prices increasing further as demand from the downstream monochloroacetic acid (MCA) sector has slowed down,” the same company official said, adding that several of such polluting small-scale plants would be shut down and moved to north of Jiangsu province in July.

Major acetic acid producers in Asia include Celanese, Yaraco, BP Petronas Acetyls, Samsung BP, CPDC, Fanavaran Petrochemical Co., Shanghai Wujing and Yankuang Cathay Coal Co.

($1 = CNY6.87)

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By: Helen Lee
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