In a conference call that focused frequently on acetic acid, Celanese chief executive David Weidman said there had been no new plants built since 2008 or early 2009.
"At some point you shouldn't be surprised if we announced a new acetic acid plant that was economically attractive relative to debottlenecking or any other option that we had," Weidman said at the end of the call.
He added that acetic acid is the foundation of the company, and Celanese plans to maintain that position.
“Our goal over time is to hold our share,” Weidman said.
The Texas-based chemical producer’s largest division, Acetyl Intermediates, generated more sales ($975m, €702m) in the third quarter than its other three divisions combined.
The acetyl division’s operating profit of $128m was almost double that of Celanese’s Consumer Specialties division, which generated $66m, according to the company’s earnings release.
Celanese on Tuesday reported a 15% increase in third-quarter net earnings because of higher sales. Weidman said outages during the third quarter caused about 4–6% of Celanese’s global acetic acid capacity to go offline, but the market is coming back into balance now.
Weidman said acetic acid prices in China recently dropped below $500/tonne. That is well below the US FOB (free on board) export price currently averaging about $625/tonne, according to market sources.
Acetic acid is used largely to make vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), a popular ingredient in paints and coatings. Major US acetic acid sellers include BP, Celanese and Eastman Chemical.
($1 = €0.72)
