China's state-owned Tianjin Soda Plant plans to start exports of acetic acid from the second half of this year when its sole 200,000 mt/year AA plant comes online at the end of July, a source close to the company said late Tuesday.
The company is also looking to export a "substantial amount" of AA next year, but exact export quantities were not disclosed.
"From 2011, I am sure the export quantity [from China] will be increased sharply because several new domestic AA plants will be finished from 2011" the source said, without providing details.
Tianjin Soda's AA plant, in the Binhai harbor industrial area near the northeastern city of Tianjin, is one of at least two new AA plants due to come onstream shortly in China. The other is BP YPC Acetyls' 500,000 mt/year plant in Nanjing, which is expected to start up in late May or June.
China, typically an importer of AA, has not imported anything so far this year, according to data from Chinese customs, due to high inventory levels.Â
The last time China imported AA was in December 2009, when it purchased 8,333 mt, and the country now looks set to become a net exporter of AA, industry sources told Platts.
Domestic east China prices were heard at Yuan 2,850/mt Wednesday, or $329/mt on an import parity basis. This price level is considered much too low for Asian traders and producers who are asking for prices of $410-440/mt CFR Far East Asia, said sources.
AA CFR Far East Asia prices -- assessed by Platts on a weekly basis -- have fallen from a peak of $447.50/mt on March 11 to close at $409/mt on May 13.
Tianjin Soda Plant, a subsidiary of the Tianjin Bohai Petrochemical Group, produces a wide range of inorganic chemical products such as soda ash, urea and ammonium chloride. Its subsidiary, Tianjin Red Triangle International Trading Co., imports and exports chemical materials, according to the company's web site.
