Surging n-Butanol Prices in India

The N-Butanol prices have been continuously surging in India for the past few weeks. By following the previous trend, the values are also trending upward this week. According to Chemanalyst data, this month only, the values surged by almost 4%, and during the second week of June, the n-Butanol prices were around INR 128000/Mt with an increment of INR 1300 from last week. Production costs of materials rose due to a sharp surge in feed Butyraldehyde values, which boosted the trade values of the materials in the market.

However, the prices are declining in major exporting countries like the USA and even in importing Asian countries like China and Japan. Still, because of the high transportation costs, the price is on the positive side in the domestic Indian market. The rising freight charges caused by increased fuel prices due to inflationary pressure on crude impacted and boosted the shipping and transportation costs of the materials. Key manufacturers of n-Butanol in India, like Andhra Petrochem, are quoting their values on the positive side.

N-Butanol is an Oxo-alcohol used to manufacture surfactants, paint, plasticizer, and diesel additives. The demand for Oxo-alcohol remained stable in downstream phthalate and construction industries. However, the demand for n-Butanol was seen as frail in the plasticizer industry but remained consistent in other end-user industries. Moderate offtakes of materials were also observed from the market.

Chemanalyst experts are assuming that the price movement will fluctuate shortly, and the price of N-Butanol will decline slightly as the transportation and manufacturing activities are likely to improve in the coming weeks, especially from China after the ease in lockdown and reopening of the port. So, supplies of materials will be adequate to fulfill the market demand, and demand is anticipated to remain firm in downstream and end-user phthalate and automotive industries.