ICIS price assessments for butadiene (BD)/crude C4 are widely used by market players in contract and trade deals.
If you’re looking for a 360° perspective of the global BD/C4 markets, our short-to-long term solutions – from pricing data, breaking news and market analysis, to supply and demand forecasts – will power your decision-making process by bringing clarity through data, ensuring you are able to evaluate the industry from every angle.
Updated to Q4 2020
Asia
Supply eased in Q4 2020 due to the start-up of new BD plants in China, which saw China-origin BD being exported during this period. The resumption of BD production at Lotte Chemical in South Korea in early December further eased supply. Lotte Chemical shut down its 150,000 tonne/year BD plant in Daesan following a fire in March 2020. The arrival of deep-sea cargoes from Europe during the quarter further eased supply.
Demand was robust in Q4 2020 as downstream synthetic rubber (SR) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plants were mostly running at increased rates to meet growing end-user demand. The automotive industry rebounded in Asia, while strong global demand for household goods amid the shift to working from home, saw the respective SR and ABS plants in Asia running at near full rates during the quarter.
Europe
Supply was well-balanced to tight during Q4. A succession of cracker hiccups limited crude C4 feedstock to some extent amid some longer-term BD unit outages. Naphtha was the preferred feedstock and crackers were incentivised to run as hard as possible as demand for cracker co-products ethylene and propylene was much stronger than anticipated for the period.
Demand was unseasonably healthy during Q4. Domestic demand was boosted by increased export opportunities following supply restrictions and a spike in costs in Asia and the US. The same spike in costs saw demand for volumes to export increase and strong competition amongst traders helped to ramp up European spot prices.
US
US Q4 BD supply increased with increasing industry operating rates following the onset of the coronavirus earlier in the year on top of numerous unplanned outages in Q3. Cracker operating rates increased throughout the quarter. BASF Total restarted its US Port Arthur, Texas, cracker and associated BD unit in late October following an unplanned outage in June. Supply also increased as producers separately lifted sales allocations associated with pipeline issues and other supply chain disruptions throughout the quarter.
Demand increased during the typical destocking season as downstream demand rebounded and recovered from the onset of the pandemic earlier in the year and hurricane-related disruptions in Q3. Automotive demand began steadily recovering from around September, increasing demand for downstream nylon and SBR. Downstream producers steadily increased operating rates following the storm-related disruptions in Q3 as BD supply constraints slowly eased against the backdrop of rebounding automotive demand.
Whether you are buying or selling, our short-to-long term solutions – from pricing data, breaking news and market analysis, to supply and demand forecasts – will power your decision-making process by bringing clarity through data and ensuring you are able to evaluate the global butadiene market from every angle.
Key trading prices and activities – Spot, contract and domestic prices. Offers, bids and transactions of butadiene and crude/C4
Price alerts and market updates: Shifts in prices, the latest news, market developments and changes in regulations and demand trends
Plant data: Production and capacity, plant maintenance and shutdowns
Feedstock: Prices and market updates for naphtha
Historical prices: Download and/or chart pricing from as far back as the start of ICIS coverage
Weekly market outlook: Overview and outlook for the overall regional butadiene market, including a brief commentary on the related regional markets
Supply and demand: Analysis of domestic and international supply and demand
Regional coverage: Asia-Pacific, China, Europe and the US
Asia-Pacific
Europe
US Gulf
Ensuring you gain a 360° view of the market, our pricing intelligence service is supplemented with analytical tools. Quickly access data such as:
ICIS News brings you breaking chemical news as they happen – including market moves, analysis, data and more. The service is reliable, authoritative and always available when you need it most.
Gain a long-term view of the market with ICIS Supply and Demand Data Service (1978-2040)
ICIS Supply and Demand Data Service offers end-to-end perspectives across the global butadiene supply chain. Gain quick access to data on import and export volumes, plant capacities, production updates, trade flows, companies and trade routes. With historical data from 1978 and forecast available up to 2040, this powerful data and analytics service from ICIS helps senior management, strategists, business planners, analysts and risk managers to:
Working closely with you to understand your strategies, challenges and ambitions, the consulting team at ICIS delivers tailored advice and solutions to suit your unique requirements. With many years’ experience of guiding business leadership teams, we show you how market conditions can have a positive or negative impact on your long-term plans.
How we can help:
Conferences: ICIS hosts regional butadiene/crude C4 conferences, bringing key industry experts to deliver programmes that addresses current industry issues.
Our Pricing Methodology: ICIS price assessments are based on information gathered from a wide cross-section of the market, comprising of consumers, producers, traders and distributors from more than 250 reporters worldwide. Confirmed deals, verified by both buyer and seller, provide the foundation of our price assessments.
Keen to know more about our methodologies and how we derive our price assessments? Click here.
Our benchmark prices have been trusted by buyers and sellers around the globe for nearly 40 years.
Choose ICIS for concise information and easy-to-assess formatting, all delivered straight to your inbox.
Butadiene is a colourless, non-corrosive liquefied gas with a mild aromatic or gasoline-like odour. It is slightly soluble in water, more soluble in methanol and ethanol, and soluble in most common organic solvents such as acetone, ether, benzene, and cyclohexane. It readily polymerises in the presence of sodium or oxygen.
Butadiene is used to produce synthetic rubbers and polymer resins, as well as a few chemical intermediates. The largest uses are styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber (BR), mostly used in tyres and automobiles.
The major source of butadiene is as a byproduct in the steam cracking of naphtha and gas oil to make ethylene and propylene. The butadiene is extracted from the C4 cracker stream using extractive distillation.
Other uses include acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resins, styrene-butadiene latex and block copolymers, nitrile rubber, and adiponitrile (ADN)
WR Grace is willing to discuss a sale to 40 North, after the private investment firm raised its bid to $65 per share earlier this week, the US-based catalyst producer said on Friday. In a letter to...
ReadMOSCOW (MRC)--The January contract price of ethylene was settled in Europe up by €65/tonne from the previous month, according to ICIS-MRC Price report. European producers announced a greater...
ReadHOUSTON (ICIS)--Targets set by brand-owners and regulations have been contributing to a growing demand for recyclates in North America. Several brands are committed to use 25% of minimum recycled...
ReadLONDON (ICIS)--Senior editor for recycling Matt Tudball looks at this week's developments in the European recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) markets, including: Price increases for...
ReadThe conference will offer you the perfect opportunity to participate in discussions about the industry’s most pressing issues including new investment, shifts in trade flows, the move towards sustainability and much more. Join the global players from the olefins value chain to discuss the latest developments in the market and to ensure that you have all the necessary information and connections to drive your business forward.