The N-Butyl Alcohol Entered the Low Inventory Era

According to the data, the inventory of n-butyl alcohol (NBA) at main port in East China hit 100kt at the end of February 2017. Around 60% of NBA was hold by butyl ester producers. The inventory jumped to 31kt at the end of March. At the end of April, the inventory declined to 26kt. The inventory decreased to 22kt at the end of May. At the end of June, the inventory declined to 10kt.

In 2016, the NBA market fluctuated upwards and the inventory was in the range of 7-15kt. In 2017, the inventory changed greatly.

As for the liquid products, inventories also went down. Up to the end of June, inventories of ethylene glycol, methanol and styrene decreased by 30%-50%. The great declines in inventory influenced the market.

There were two main reasons for the decreasing inventories. First, the supply of Chinese-made NBA declined as some units underwent maintenance and some units started to produce octanol. Second, the import volume hit new lows. The import volume in April declined to 10.2kt or so.

However, the jumping export of NBA’ downstream products boosted the consumption for NBA.

In May, China exported 26,039mt of butyl acrylate with the value being 31.2582 million dollars. The average price was $1,200/mt. The export volume increased 40% from last month and jumped 523% year on year.

In May, the export volume of butyl acetate was 9,355mt, up 5% month on month and down 6% year on year. The total value was 7.6869 million dollars. The average export price was $822/mt.

With the declines in inventory, the overall sentiments in the NBA market have changed a lot. Low inventory has become the firm support to the NBA market.