Ineos is considering a further cut in production run rates at its acrylonitrile plants in Europe due to declining demand, a company source said Tuesday.
Ineos operates a 300,000 mt/year plant in Cologne, Germany and a 280,000 mt/year plant in Seal Sands, northeastern England. The plants are running at only 70% of capacity on average in November, the source said, as orders dwindled and margins were squeezed by high feedstock costs.
The plants' run rates are "going down a bit into December, probably to 65%, but there's no decision yet," the source said.
Bearish pressure persisted in the global ACN market in November as demand from end-users, particularly acrylic fiber and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, receded amid the economic downturn.
Spot prices in Europe have hovered at around $1,600/mt CIF Med in November. Though several sources felt this could potentially be the floor, there remained very little confidence that the market will bounce back in a seasonally slow December.
Spot prices peaked at $2,320/mt CIF Med on March 27, before plunging to a low of $1,400/mt in July 3. They slowly picked up in July and September then went downhill again in October and November, Platts data showed.