German petrochemicals producer BASF has commenced planned maintenance work at its butyl acetate plant at Ludwigshafen, Germany, according to two sources close to the company and one market participant.
The turnaround is expected to last three or four weeks.
"They've told us they will be back in the market at the end of September or beginning of October," one of the sources said.
A BASF representative declined to comment.
The turnaround comes hot on the heels of BASF lifting its longstanding force majeure.
BASF confirmed the force majeure on butyl acetate was lifted on August 14.
The company had been producing and stocking up ahead of the shutdown.
BASF declared the force majeure on butac from Ludwigshafen in October 2016.
It subsequently restarted production and supply for contract customers, but kept the force majeure in place.
The company is one of three major European producers and has a capacity of 90,000 mt/year at Ludwigshafen.
The long-term absence from spot markets has kept butac prices higher.
The renewed supply, following the turnaround, is expected to alleviate the market shortfall.
European spot butac prices Tuesday were assessed unchanged on the week at Eur1,130/mt FD NWE.
