The October US acetone for MMA use contract was heard Tuesday initially settled down 15 cents/lb ($330.60/mt), or 24.6%, to 46 cents/lb ($1,103.84/mt) from the September contract price of 61 cents/lb ($1,344.44/mt).
The September contract price was itself a rollover from the August contract price.
The October US contract was reported to only involve a few parties, and was not considered to be an industry-wide settlement.
"We, among others, decided to sit back," said a major actetone buyer Tuesday.
The fall in the October contract price was mostly on the back of lower feedstock refinery-grade propylene values, according to several sources, as RGP had averaged 47.33 cents/lb ($1,043.15/mt) so far in October, down roughly 17.8 cents/lb ($392.31/mt) from a monthly average of 65.13 cents/lb ($1,435.47/mt) for September.
Meanwhile, feedstock benzene had averaged 317.41 cents/gal ($949.06/mt) FOB USG in October to date, down about 43.49 cents/gal ($130.04/mt), or 12.1%, from September's monthly average of 360.90 cents/gal ($1,079.91/mt).
The acetone spot price was heard Tuesday at 52 cents/lb ($1,146.08/mt), down 2 cents/lb ($44.08/mt) week on week, as a poor demand picture weighed heavily on the market.
A producer said, "The [acetone] market has been really quiet. Demand just isn't there," adding, "I think you could drop the spot price down to 45 cents/lb, and demand still wouldn't pick up."
A market participant said the buyers for the acetone for MMA use contract typically include Dow Chemical, Evonik, and Lucite, while the producers usually include Georgia Gulf, INEOS Phenol, Shell Chemical, Sunoco, and Mitsui.
