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10th January 2014

Cumene (USA)

Editor Larry Terry, larry.terry@icis.com

CONTRACT PRICES
Click for Price History Price Range One year ago USD/MT
FOB US DEC US CTS/LB +6.00 66.00-67.00 +6.00 64.00-66.00 1455.05-1477.10

NOTE: for full details on the criteria ICIS pricing uses in making these price assessments visit www.icispricing.com and
click on “methodology”.

January contract headed higher on benzene allowed to restart. The plant is among the two smallest phenol
plants in the US, with less than 27,000 tonnes/year of phenol
The US January cumene contract price will be pressured production.

upward by higher benzene, expected to gain about 4 cents/lb
($88/tonne).
The January benzene contract settled at $4.84/gal, gaining an
average of 35.50 cents/gal from December on tight supply.
The higher settlement, which was in line with market
expectations, was the second consecutive increase for the US
benzene contract.
mp
Previously, the December cumene contract was assessed
similarly higher by 5 cents/lb on a strong push from
December’s benzene contract.
The supply-demand situation remained soft on
downstream demand from phenol.
Sa
le
In the downstream acetone market, the US barge contract fully
settled up by 5 cents for December, on confirmation this week
from all of the market participants. In the truck acetone market,
further gains are expected for January, but the level of
increase is still uncertain this early in the month as buyers
have been mulling over proposals that totalled 9-15 cents/lb for
December and January.
In industry news, the US chemicals industry hopes to get
congressional approval in the new year for a long-needed
modernisation of rules governing control of chemicals in
commerce and an extension for a federal mandate for plant
weak site security.
Sources said both must happen by mid-year or risk getting
mired in midterm elections. The president of the American
Chemistry Council (ACC) said he hopes Congress will reach
an agreement early in 2014 on the proposed bipartisan bill
known as the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA).
On the broader economic front, the US economy is widely
expected to approach or reach normal growth rates this year,
driven by new energy supplies (shale, for example), a
strengthening global recovery and increasing domestic

consumer demand, the ACC said.

Feedstock

US January benzene spot prices were flat from the previous

session amid thin activity early in the day, sources said. US
benzene supply had been long for much of 2013, but tighter
supply late in the fourth quarter put pressure on spot prices,
which influenced the higher January contract price.

The absence of some US phenol volume after a mid-
December 2013 unplanned outage at a small phenol plant in
Illinois was expected to exert only limited downward pressure
on the market, however. The plant’s cumene unit was
damaged in an explosion and fire in which two workers were
also injured.
It was not yet known if or from what source the company might
procure cumene to operate its phenol unit after the plant is
US refinery-grade propylene (RGP) was flat at 63.75 cents/lb,
despite a drop in spot polymer-grade propylene (PGP) prices.
US January contracts are expected to settle at an increase of
3.5-4.5 cents/lb, lower than initial nominations for an increase
of 7.0-7.5 cents/lb, tracking the recent decline in spot PGP.
The initially higher nomination stemmed mostly from tight
supply expected in the wake of the US cracker turnaround
season early this year.

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 Cumene (USA)

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