US VAM jumps $100/tonne again on continuing supply tightness

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) jumped $100/tonne during the past week on plant turnarounds and continuing supply issues, sources said on Tuesday.

ICIS assessed the VAM FOB (free on board) export range at $1,600-1800/tonne, up from $1,500-1,700/tonne previously and near the middle of estimates by sources.

Sources had heard of higher prices being paid. One producer pegged the range at $1,900-2,000/tonne, but it could not be confirmed. The producer also said pricing continued to be mostly notional.

Export prices have shot up 63% since early January, with most of that jump in the past month. The latest increase is the fourth jump of $100/tonne or more in the past month.

Since late February, outages have prompted two of the four American producers to declare force majeure, the latest being LyondellBasell.

Dow Chemical’s 365,000 tonne/year VAM plant in Texas City will go down in April for planned maintenance, a source close to the company said on Monday.

Major US VAM producers include Celanese, DuPont, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell.