Dow lifts FM on Europe, US ethylene amine supplies

20 August 2008 17:44  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Dow Chemical lifted the force majeure on its ethylene amine supplies in Europe and the US on 15 August, a company source said on Wednesday.

 

One European ethylene diamine (EDA) customer considered this “a step in the right direction”, but it did not expect to see an improvement immediately.

 

The source said it was unlikely to receive any spot material from Dow Chemical for at least the next month.

 

Previous reports suggested that Dow Chemical had increased its sales allocations during July and August to its contract customers, distributors and internal users, following the restart of its ethylene amine production at Taft, in the US in July.

 

Since then, the company has concentrated on rebuilding global inventories in preparation to lift the force majeure.

 

At the end of May, Dow Chemical experienced some technical difficulties at its Taft facility which resulted in a declaration of force majeure in the region, but which then spread to Europe in early June. At the time, the company expected that the sales allocations were likely to be in place until at least early July.

 

Over the last few months, the European ethylene diamine (EDA) market has been hit by additional tightness, following Dow Chemical’s supply restrictions, along with ensuing production issues of other European manufacturers.

 

In early July, Delamine declared force majeure on its ethylene amine production in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, following some technical issues at the site.

 

The plant restarted after one week, but it remained unclear whether the force majeure was still in place, according to market players. The company was unavailable to comment.

 

Also in July, BASF had experienced some supply difficulties which resulted in an extended lead time of approximately five-to-six weeks during July and August.

 

There was also speculation that another European producer had been forced to put supply restrictions in place. However, this was not confirmed at source and further details were not available.

By: Heidi Finch
+44 20 8652 3214

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