OUTLOOK:US PET supply shortage to continue intosecond half

摘要

HOUSTON(ICIS)--The US virgin polyethylene terephthalate(PET)market will likely continue to see supplyshortages along the production chain in the second half of 2021.The factors that have led to an unbalanced market in the first half of the year are either still present orlikely to continue in the second half before market conditions have a chance to return to normal.As long as these conditions are unchanged,pellet prices will remain under upward pressure.Shortages of feedstocks have been a reality since Q4 2020 when hurricanes along the US Gulf Coast(USGC)resulted in plant outages for monoethylene gycol(MEG),followed by shortage of purifiedterephthalic acid(PTA)in Q1 2021 stemming from production issues at upstream acetic acid facilitiesdue to the polar storm along the USGC.The shortages continued through the first half of the year as a result of reduced PTA imports fromMexico,where low river water levels in May resulted in limited water supplies for cooling processes atproduction plants.Concerns regarding adequate availability of acetic acid are ongoing as producers are unable to keeppace with demand for domestic and export markets.Furthermore,logistics issues remain amid labourand trucking shortages,causing a more problematic supply chain for acetic acid.