Gap between buyer and seller price expectations Demand steady despite continuing uncertainty



Low spot activity
continued to plague the European acrylonitrile markets, despite wide
uncertainty.  Commodity Insights evaluated the CIF-ARA ACN spot at $2,200-2,230/mt on April 12. Market uncertainty remained the
dominant factor, reflecting recent trends across the propylene chain. Three factors are contributing to market uncertainty,
according to a producer. First, record-high
upstream ammonia, propylene, and natural gas costs had pushed prices up.
Producers were forced to pass these higher costs on to consumers. The producer added that the strain of increased composite
feedstock costs and energy volatility felt in the downstream European
acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene market added to a lack of clarity over the
demand outlook for the ACN market. According
to the same source, the reason for low speculative buying in ACN was market...