Following China, Taiwan is the second-largest producer in the region, with a total acetic acid production capacity of 1200 kilo tons per year. Chang Chun is a prominent player in Taiwan with an annual capacity of 750 kilo tons, followed by the Formosa BP joint venture with an annual capacity of 300 kilo tons.

Japan and Korea each have more than 670 kilo tons per year of acetic acid capacity. Companies like Daicel, Nippon and Showa Denko are prominent players in Japan whereas, Lotte-BP JV now Lotte-INEOS is prominent player in Korea. In 2019, Lotte-BP debottled their 550 kilo tons per year plant to reach an annual production capacity of 650 kilo tons.

In the ASEAN region, Celanese currently operates a 600 kilo tons per year. Other Asian countries have small capacity, whereas Assam Petrochemical in India is expected to add around 70 kilo tons per year capacity in near future, which would increase the country s total capacity to around 170 kilo tons per year.

In 2022, the acetic acid demand in Asia Pacific was estimated to be around 12,000 kilo tons corresponding to market share of over 70% from global acetic acid market. The demand for acetic acid is estimated to continue to grow at CAGR of 3.5%. Almost 70% of acetic acid consumed in the region was used as an intermediate to manufacture vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), terephthalic acid (PTA) and ethylene acetate. China dominates the regional Acetic Acid market accounting for around 70% of the regional market followed by India at 10%. Japan and ASEAN together accounts for around 10% of the regional Acetic Acid Market. China and India are projected to grow at higher rates in the forecast period on the back of huge upcoming investment in the downstream industry.

Many of these products are produced in integrated plants. Vinyl acetate monomer is expected to drive the region’s acetic acid demand. Vinyl acetate is produced in the presence of alumina or silica-based palladium catalyst by reacted acetic acid, ethylene and oxygen. Vinyl acetate monomer is precursor to polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate and ethene-vinyl acetate which are found in paints & coatings, paper coatings, adhesives, films, textile finishes and others. In the case of terephthalic acid, acetic acid is used as facilitator or solvent in reaction. Acetic acid consumption in PTA has seen rise in China with most of capacity running at maximum rate. Ethylene acetate or ethyl acetate is the major consumer of acetic acid. Ethyl acetate is made via direct esterification of ethanol and acetic acid and is widely used to solvent due to low cost and toxicity. Varnishes, lacquers, dry cleaning, confectionery, perfumes are commonly places were ethyl acetate is used as solvents. 

Asia Pacific is a net exporter with an average exports volume of more than 1000 kilo tons of net exports. China is largest exporter in the region with around 1113 kilo tons of acetic acid exports in 2022 which is up by 10% compared to last year. China’s exports slightly decline in past years due to industrial shut down during Covid-19. During 2018, China exported 712 kilo tons of acetic acid which decline to reach 404 kilo tons in 2020 and saw whopping 140% rise in exports during 2021. Followed by China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. All these countries have since slight increase in exports with recovery of exports after downfall during 2019 and 2020. In terms of imports, India, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and Indonesia are top 5 imports. In 2022, the combine imports of top 5 acetic acid importer stood at 1534 kilo tons with India accounting for 70% of imports. The acetic acid imports in India has increased from 957 kilo ton in 2018 to reach 1071 kilo tons in 2022. Followed by India, acetic acid imports from Japan and Thailand stood at 163 kilo tons and 120 kilo tons respectively. South Korea being net exporter have since rise in its imports with almost two fold increase in imports from 2018 to 2022. In 2019 South Korea imports around 47 kilo tons which had grown to reach 109 kilo tons in 2022. Pakistan also has significant imports of acetic acid, around 50 kilo tons of acetic acid had imported in 2022. Others small importer are Vietnam, Philippines and Taiwan.

 

Following the global trend, Asia Pacific acetic acid prices in 2022 ranged between $550-790 per ton. After a drop in prices during 2019 and 2020, acetic acid prices saw a sharp rise in 2021 due to increased demand and rising raw material costs. In 2022, prices returned to a more normal range but remained high compared to 2018 levels in many countries. In 2022, acetic acid prices in China stood at $547 per ton, the lowest in the region, followed by India with average prices of $574 per ton.