US spot acrylonitrile prices increase on strong demand

04 March 2011 17:32  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--US spot acrylonitrile (ACN) prices continued their surge into record territory on Friday, pushed higher by strong demand.

US spot ACN prices increased by $50/tonne (€36/tonne) to $2,600-2,650/tonne, as assessed by ICIS, continuing their record-setting surge.

Since the start of October 2010, ACN prices have increased by $700-750/tonne. US spot ACN prices broke their June 2010 record of $2,475/tonne just one week ago.

Producers and buyers said strong demand from the downstream acrylic fibre (AF) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) segments continued to push ACN prices upward.

An AF producer said it was seeing prices in the Americas at $3,000-3,500/tonne. An ACN producer said it thought most AF deals were probably being done at the high end of that range.

AF demand has been spurred by a cotton shortage, which boosted cotton prices and made AF a viable competitor.

However, an AF producer said it was starting to see margin erosion from high ACN prices, despite strong global demand for AF.

In the ABS market, demand has been described as relatively strong for the time of year. In the key US automotive sector, February sales improved 27.3% year on year.

Major US producers of ACN are Ascend Performance Materials, Cornerstone Chemical and INEOS Nitriles.

($1 = €0.72)

For more on acrylonitrile visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: John Dietrich
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