Global butyl acrylate market reels from startling price surge

Shifting demand patterns, a string of production outages and the consequence of low industry stocks have lifted butyl acrylate prices dramatically across the world in early 2021.

Globally the butyl acrylate became very tight in December 2020, and by January 2021, prices in many regions had soared.

How has the market reached this level of tightness? After months of low BA prices in Europe and under par demand exacerbated by the pandemic, Dow made the long-awaited decision to temporarily close down its Boehlen, Germany acrylic acid and BA site in September 2020. Since then, various other production issues have arisen, highlighting the real impact of the loss of this tonnage.

BA has been very tight in Asia for several months since LG’s production went down following a fire at its naphtha cracker in November. Domestic demand has been strong and prices have rocketed. Meanwhile, freight costs keep creeping up amid a lack of vessel and container space. The combination has led to a decline in Asian exports to Europe, the US and South America, leading to tight spot market availability and rising prices.