INEOS Nitriles confirms normal production at Cologne ACN plant

10 May 2012 16:56  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--INEOS Nitriles’ 300,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Cologne, Germany, is operating at normal rates following maintenance on one of its lines in April, a company source confirmed on Thursday.

The source said the 100,000 tonne/year line underwent a short maintenance period in April, but could not give the exact dates of the outage.

The maintenance had little effect on the European ACN market, because of weak demand. European ACN availability is increasing as a result of an oversupply of ACN fibres in China limiting export opportunities, European exporters said.

In addition, macroeconomic fears and uncertainty over the direction of upstream costs have caused European consumers to lower inventories, they said.

Reduced consumer purchasing power because of bearish economic conditions has also limited demand for small and mid-sized vehicles, limiting offtake from the downstream acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrne (ABS) market, sources said.

($1 = €0.77)

By: Mark Victory
+44 208 652 3214

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