Celanese CEO denies change in acetyls strategy

27 October 2009 21:25  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Celanese CEO David Weidman on Tuesday denied that the company's strategy for acetic acid and related chemicals was changing amid increased production capacity.

"Over the last several weeks I've been asked about our quote, 'new strategy for acetyl intermediates,'" Weidman said during a quarterly earnings conference call. "Let me be perfectly clear: There is no new strategy."

Celanese has doubled its acetic acid production capacity at its Nanjing facility in China and expects to increase capacity at another plant within the next year.

Weidman said additional capacity at the Nanjing plant had not forced any decline in the pricing of acetic acid.

Celanese said in May that it planned to double its acetic acid capacity to 1.2m tonnes/year at its Nanjing plant by the end of 2009 to meet growing demand.

Celanese spokesman Travis Jacobsen said on Tuesday that the additional capacity came on line this month.

"We basically put a lot of new capacity into the market over the last several weeks, and it has not changed pricing an awful lot," Weidman added. "In fact, it's been stable to up."

Weidman did not elaborate on why there was speculation about a new strategy.

But an unnamed Celanese official in August said there would be an oversupply of acetic acid in Asia because of large plants coming online.

Weidman said Celanese's acetic acid made in China was priced $350-375/tonne (€235-251/tonne). He said he expected that price range to be maintained at least through the end of this year. Acetic acid is the company's premier chemical product in China.

($1 = €0.67)

For more on Celanese's Nanjing, China, plant, visit ICIS plants and projects
For more on acetic acid, visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Lane Kelley
+1 713 525 2653

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly