Korea Alcohol cuts April etac domestic price to stay competitive

30 March 2012 03:01  [Source: ICIS news]

MELBOURNE (ICIS)--Korea Alcohol Industrial will reduce its domestic ethyl acetate (etac) price from 1 April to increase its pricing competitiveness against cheaper imports from China, a company official said on Friday.

The producer will reduce its April domestic pricing by won (W) 30/kg ($265/tonne) to W1,310/kg ex-works, the official said.

Korea Alcohol Industrial is South Korea’s only etac/butac producer and operates an 85,000 tonne/year etac/butac swing plant in Ulsan.

The producer increased its March price by W30/kg from February to W1,340/kg ex-works.

However, the price hike reduced its competitiveness versus imports from China, the official said.

Prices of Chinese etac were at around $990-1,005/tonne CFR South Korea, according to ICIS assessment.

South Korean etac demand in 2011 was estimated by market sources at about 90,000-100,000 tonnes. Most of the 69,000 tonnes of etac imported in 2011 came from China, the sources said.

($1 = W1,135.25)

By: Trisha Huang

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