US butanol H1 exports rise on weak dollar

12 August 2008 22:04  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Weakness in the US dollar helped increase exports of n-butanol (NBA) and isobutanol (IBA) during the first half of 2008 compared with 2007, a US distributor said on Tuesday.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) reported a 72% year-over-year increase in IBA exports in the first half. Exports of NBA rose by 4%.

Latin American buyers took 88% more IBA and 19% more NBA during the first six months of 2008 than in 2007, the ITC said.

Market participants said that supply tightness in NBA, which some said intensified during the period, may have partly offset the increased buying interest.

For 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH), first-half US exports fell 18% year over year due to supply constraints, the ITC and market sources said.

Globally, planned and unplanned outages have taken at least 250,000 tonnes of material out of the market, a US butanol producer said.

For NBA loading in August, spot prices were $1,940-2,010/tonne FOB (free on board) USG (US Gulf), according to data from global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing. Spot IBA was assessed in August at $1,600-1,700/tonne FOB.

US producers of oxo-alcohols include BASF, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, ExxonMobil and Oxea.

($1 = €0.67)

For more on 2-EH PVC visit ICIS chemical intelligence
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By: Landon Feller
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