In recent days, the European acrylate market has been affected by irresistible forces. Arkema’s installations in Carlin, France, and BASF’s Ludwigshafen, Germany, all involved unplanned shutdowns due to production failures. Arkema France recently announced that the supply of ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate and methyl acrylate was affected by irresistible force, and BASF has also announced that the supply of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate has been affected by irresistible force.
In a letter to the customer, BASF stated: "Because of the unforeseen technical failure of the installation, we were forced to close down the 2-ethylhexyl acrylate production facility in Ludwigshafen. Due to the very limited stock, we expect that There will be further shortage of this product." Arkema's waste disposal part of the acrylic production plant was forced to stop work after the failure, the company issued an irresistible force announcement on the ethyl acrylate supply on August 10. On August 13, the company added butyl acrylate and methyl acrylate to the list of irresistible forces, but so far acrylic acid and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate have not been affected. Arkema's announcement did not specify the limited proportion of product supply and when to resume normal supply, but said that the company is dealing with production failures and is optimistic about the recent resumption of production. BASF said that orders will be delivered on a pro-rata basis and that distribution plans are currently being formulated. However, it is uncertain when the production failures will be resolved.
According to ICIS, the highest transaction volume of butyl acrylate in Europe in July reached 1900 to 2000 euros/tonne (FD, Northwest Europe), a 66% increase from January. Traders were originally thought to enter the off-season demand in August, while cheap acrylics from Asia will also reach the European market, and acrylic spot prices will fall. But now it seems that this situation has not been possible.