Acetic Acid
Market, Supplier, Risk and
Competitive Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

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.