• Global acetic acid prices increased in late 2013/early 2014 due to longterm
methanol plant outages in Southeast Asia and unplanned production
problems for acetic acid in Saudi Arabia and the United States.
• Acetic acid prices peaked in Q2 2014 amid ongoing planned turnarounds
in the US Gulf, unplanned production problems in other regions and
persistent high methanol prices. An unplanned outage in the United
Kingdom in Q3 supported prices in North America and Europe.
• US Gulf Coast producers maintained high utilisation rates – above 90% --
in 2014 despite the ‘force majeure’ declaration by key downstream VAM
and PTA consumers. Steady US economic activity and cheaper feedstock
prices should underpin US production in 2015.
• Global utilisation rates were expected to remain close to 70% from 2015-
2020 as over-supply conditions persist in China and various macroeconomic
scenarios keep markets unsteady