Europe ethanolamine spot enquiries up, prices firming on BASF’s fire

Focus article by Heidi Finch

LONDON (ICIS)–There are some early signs of an increase in spot enquiries in the European ethanolamines market and a firmer spot tendency amid reduced supply in the immediate aftermath of the fire at Germany’s BASF Ludwigshafen site, sources said on Wednesday.

A few suppliers said they have seen some additional demand and enquiries for prompt delivery this week, because less material is available as a consequence of the accident.

One buyer acknowledged that its immediate contractual deliveries from BASF have been affected.

It went on to say that there are some attempts to obtain deliveries from BASF’s other ethanolamine site in Antwerp, in Belgium, where possible, but there are also some deliveries from BASF that could not be supplied.

However, BASF were not available to comment on this at the time of writing.

The same buyer said it has managed to source some alternative volumes from other suppliers, albeit at an additional cost of €30-50/tonne.

Few players were prepared to comment on actual spot price levels, although one supplier said it is currently discussing a plus €10/tonne for spot in October.

It talked of prices around €1,100/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe) net for mono-ethanolamines (MEA) and €1,130-1,140/tonne FD net for tri-ethanolamines 99%  (TEA 99%).

A few buyers, however, said they had not seen any adverse effects on supply from BASF and/or they have not been subject to any firmer spot prices.

One customer said it is being supplied as normal from BASF, adding it believes that its ethanolamine volumes come from BASF’s Antwerp rather than its Ludwigshafen site.

Another buyer said it has ordered some tri-ethanolamines 85% (TEA 85%) spot at €1,070/tonne FD NWE from another supplier in the market this week, but it said it had agreed the same price compared to its last purchase.  

Some players said that it is still too early to assess the extent of the impact on the ethanolamines market following Ludwigshafen accident.

“I think the full effects haven’t been felt yet, it is still early days,” said one supplier.

One trader said it had not yet seen any concrete additional demand but “just price checking”, adding that players were still in a wait-and-see mode.

This is because a lot will depend on how long the production units which are offline at Ludwigshafen are likely to be down for and how long the logistical effects will last.

BASF produce ethanolamines at two European sites, Ludwigshafen and Antwerp, which some sources said will help mitigate the supply situation for BASF to some extent, but spot availability is still likely to be affected.

This is amid already reduced import availability in Europe from certain sources and following a spate of plant maintenance turnarounds in Europe or outside the region and other recent output constraints.