Maleic Anhydride Is Tight in US, Europe

Chemical Market Reporter, January, 1998

Downtime in the US and DuPont purchases in Europe limit supplies and support prices. THE US MALEIC anhydride market is extremely tight due to a quarter rife with downtime at key suppliers. In Europe, a plant built to meet a company's internal requirements suffered a major setback, a project was delayed and another expansion was canceled.

"Everyone in the US had some downtime in the fourth quarter," one supplier says. "Producers were forced to use up their inventories and informal sales control was put in place. Most producers still haven't caught up." Bayer Corporation took a portion of its 120-million pound-per-year Baytown, Tex., plant down in November for a routine catalyst change. Adding to the tightness, in the middle of last year, the company...

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