CATEGORY
Acetic Acid
Acetic acid also known as ethanoic acid is an organic compound widely used in manufacturing of daily use commodities like PET bottles, films, personal care products like diapers, wet wipes and commercial products like printing inks and paints & coatings.
Beroe LiVE.Ai™
AI-powered self-service platform for all your sourcing decision needs across 1,600+ categories llike Acetic Acid.
Market Data, Sourcing & Supplier Intelligence, and Price & Cost Benchmarking.
Category Alerts
US acetic prices rise as production returns to normal
July 14, 2022Taiwan's methanol market falls
July 18, 2022New acetic acid plant in Hubei
July 27, 2022Become a Beroe LiVE.Ai™ Subscriber to receive proactive alerts on Acetic Acid
Acetic Acid Market Monitoring Dashboard
Understand the correlation between costs, margins, and prices impacting your category on a real time basis on Beroe LiVE.Ai™
Acetic Acid Industry Benchmarks
Savings Achieved
(in %)
The average annual savings achieved in Acetic Acid category is 6.50%
Payment Terms
(in days)
The industry average payment terms in Acetic Acid category for the current quarter is 70.4 days
Compare your category performance against peers and industry benchmarks across 20+ parameters on Beroe LiVE.Ai™
Category Strategy and Flexibility
Engagement Model
Supply Assurance
Sourcing Process
Supplier Type
Pricing Model
Contract Length
SLAs/KPIs
Lead Time
Supplier Diversity
Targeted Savings
Risk Mitigation
Financial Risk
Sanctions
AMEs
Geopolitical Risk
Cost Optimization
Price per Unit Competitiveness
Specification Leanness
Minimum Order Quality
Payment Terms
Inventory Control
The World’s first Digital Market Analyst
Abi, the AI-powered digital assistant brings together data, insights, and intelligence for faster answers to sourcing questions
Acetic Acid Suppliers

Find the right-fit acetic acid supplier for your specific business needs and filter by location, industry, category, revenue, certifications, and more on Beroe LiVE.Ai™.
Creditsafe Rating



Use the Acetic Acid market, supplier and price information for category strategy creation and Quaterly Business Reviews (QRBs)
Acetic Acid market frequently asked questions
The global acetic acid market has been growing at a CAGR of 4 percent since 2017 and is expected to continue with the same rate until 2022.
The momentum for growth rate of the acetic acid market is majorly supported by the demand in Asia, which is expected to grow at 5-6 percent owing to the anticipated growth in VAM and PTA segments.
A major part of the supply share of the global acetic acid market comes from Asia, i.e. 70 percent, followed by North America and EU, which hold 16 and 6 per cent of the market respectively.
New methanol capacities in Asia will further improve the acetic acid operating rates. Besides, imports from the Middle East will be diverted to Europe from Asia.
Some of the major names among the global suppliers of acetic acid are Celanese Corp., BP Chemicals, Jiangsu Sopo Group, Chang Chun Petrochemical, and Eastman Chemicals.
In the largest acetic acid supply market in Asia, the spot and contract price movements are set by the spot price movements of methanol. In North America, demand dynamics set the acetic acid price trends. In Europe, acetic prices are set based on methanol contract prices. For the assessment of contract prices, consumers of more than 10-100 KMT/ year are considered. On the other hand, transactions for cargos of 1-2 KMT/year are considered for spot price assessments.
The global acetic acid capacity reached 17.8 MMT/year when CPDC's Kaohsiung acetic acid plant of 160 KMT/year was shut down permanently in 2015. The operating rates witnessed significant lows, but are expected to go above 95 percent levels by 2021 as the demand is growing faster than the minimal capacity demands. The plans for 4MMT/ year will receive the support from Celanese in the US and Assam Petrochemicals Ltd in India. Over the coming years, the demand growth looks promising considering the PET sector in Asia.
Acetic Acid market report transcript
Acetic Acid Market Analysis and Global Outlook
- Acetic acid is also known as ethanoic acid. The acid has a chemical formula CH3COOH. This acid is in the form of a colorless liquid organic compound that is used to make chemicals and bulk solvents that are used in various industries.
- Acetic acid is used to make VAM or vinyl acetate monomers. This is used to make products used in manufacturing films, textiles, paints, adhesives, and various end-user products.
- This acid is used as solvents in the manufacture of PTA or Purified Terephthalic acid. This is used as a precursor to make PET, one of the most popular commercial resins required in making bottles, containers, and textiles.
- Acetic acid is also used to make acetic anhydride, which has an important use in the manufacture of acetyl salicylic acid or aspirin. Acetic acid finds its application in the making of acetate esters that are used to make eyeglass frames, films, cigarette filters, in the printing industry, etc.
Demand Market Outlook
- The global acetic acid market supply–demand gap is expected to regain balance, as nominal capacity additions are planned in the next five years against the growing demand.
Industry Best Practices
Engagement Models
Engagement Preferences
- North America: Spot market
- Europe: Contracts
- Asia: Both spot market and contracts
Role of IPROs
Assessment by IPROs
- Consumers of above 10–100 KMT/year are considered for the assessment of contract prices, while transactions for cargos of 1–2 KMT/year are used for spot price assessments.
Pricing Structure
- North America: Demand dynamics play a major role in setting the acetic acid prices.
- Europe: Methanol contract prices are used to arrive at acetic prices.
- Asia: Methanol spot price movements are the base to set both spot and contract price movements of acetic acid.
Global Capacity–Demand Analysis
- Supply market scenario: Currently, a tight-supplied market owing to production woes will ease out as a considerable amount of capacities are confirmed to be added in Asia.
- Key Trends in Downstream Demand: Demand growth expected for the next two years is positive, especially demand will strengthen from the PET sector in Asia.
- The prices have been stable in spite of the trade tensions between China and the US and other key detriments.
Market Outlook
- Capacity Dynamics: After the permanent closure of CPDC's Kaohsiung acetic acid plant of 160 KMT/year in 2015, global acetic acid capacity reached 17.8 MMT/year (inclusive of the idle capacity of 1.24 MMT/year). Operating rates are at 70 percent lows and are expected to increase above 95 percent levels in 2021 due to minimal capacity additions being outpaced by the growing demand.
- Capacity Additions: A 150 KMT/year addition by Celanese in the US and 66 KMT/year addition by Assam Petrochemicals Ltd - (APL) in India was expected in 2017. Plans for ~4 MMT/year of capacity additions were in a pre-feasibility stage in Asia at the time. Since then, the market has seen significant growth owing to various key reasons. Despite the ongoing challenges, it enjoys an upbeat outlook.
- The key players in the market include Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, DuPont, Wacker Chemie, Eastman Chemical Company, PetroChina, and Jiangsu Sopo. The two major players are British Petroleum and Celanese Corporation.
Market Overview
The acetic acid market is moderately fragmented, with 40 active and 13 idle suppliers across the globe. The world’s largest capacity is of 1,400 KMT/year installed in China by Jiangsu Sopo Group. The US acetic acid prices witnessed a decreasing trend during Q4 2018, due to downtrend in upstream methanol prices. European acetic acid prices witnessed a decreasing trend during that quarter. Acetic acid prices eventually increased as supply was constrained due to plant shutdowns in China. The anticipation of a grim outlook in natural gas prices in the Americas is expected to favor ethanol production at a significantly lesser cost that, in turn, protects the margins of acetic acid producers. End-use segment growth and market transparency at every node of the value chain are the industry-drivers.
Why You Should Buy This Report
This report gives insight into best industry practices, acetic acid demand and supply trends, imports, exports, and regional market outlook. It provides an overview of the industry drivers and constraints and Porter’s five forces analysis of North America, Asia, and Europe. The report provides insight into major industry events and innovations. It outlines the acetic acid cost structure analysis and acetic acid market price forecast. It gives an exhaustive suppliers list and does a SWOT analysis of major players like Jiangsu Sopo Group, BP Chemicals, Chang Chun Petrochemical Co., Ltd., etc. The acetic acid market report will help businesses get a complete picture of the market. This will be a valuable tool in decision making.