Acetone is widely used as a chemical intermediate in the production of other chemicals, including methyl methacrylate (MMA) and bisphenol-A (BPA). Significant amounts of acetone are used in the manufacture of various commercial products like solvents, acrylic plastics, paints, adhesives, surface coating resins and artificial fibers. Application industries vary from car-making and architecture to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Demand for acetone is predicated on the following important factors: a) behavior of its main application sectors (production of MMA, BPA and solvents); b) macroeconomic situation in the key acetone-consuming regional markets, i.e. in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America (Fig. 1 shows acetone consumption segmented by region); c) interaction within the phenol/acetone sector and interrelations inside an acetone production chain, which typically involves benzene and propylene as basic raw materials, further transformed to cumene, oxidized to cumene hydroperoxide, to be later split into phenol and acetone using zeolite catalyst technology; d) operation of major acetone manufacturers; e) trends in environmental regulation.
Fig. 1. Acetone consumption by region
Main acetone manufacturers are as follows (incl. countries where their acetone-manufacturing facilities operate): Ineos Phenol (Belgium, Germany, the USA), Cepsa Quimica (Spain), Shell Chemical Co. (the USA), LG Chem Co. (South Korea), Honeywell (the USA), Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (FCFC) (Taiwan), The Dow Chemical Co. (the USA), Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (Japan, China, Singapore), Sinopec (China), Axiall (the USA), Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) (Japan), Kumho P&B Chemicals Inc (KPB) (South Korea), to name only a few. This long list of major acetone manufacturers and the wide geographic spread of their production facilities clearly show that the global acetone market is highly fragmented and non-oligopolistic.
Global acetone consumption totaled about 5.9 million tons in 2014 and showed robust growth in comparison to the previous year. China was the main contributor to this growth, and this trend is likely to prevail in the short-term future. The analysis of prices at the regional acetone markets over a period from August 2013 to July 2014 reveals that the Asian acetone market is less turbulent with a smaller degree of fluctuations (e.g. with a period’s low at USD 1100 and high at USD 1250) as compared to the acetone markets of Europe (e.g. with a period’s low at USD 1170 and high at USD 1370) and North America (e.g. with a period’s low at USD 1170 and high at USD 1420), which often demonstrate regular dramatic rises and sharp falls, especially at winter time, thus confirming susceptibility to seasonal factors.
More information on the acetone market and key market players can be found in the in-demand research study “Acetone: 2015 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2019”.