The acetone settlement for August was completed at $0.4625 per pound. This is a decrease of $0.02125 per pound from July’s settlement. There has not been a lot of significant change on acetone but one of our dearest feedstock friends, RGP, has come back to the dance.
The refinery grade propylene (RGP) recorded its first railcar trade in two months. An October delivery was recorded at $0.27 per pound, which is $0.045 lower than the last recorded trade for August delivery. Meanwhile, polymer grade propylene (PGP) trades have oscillated between $0.31 to $0.33 per pound lately. The September PGP settlement completed earlier this week at a rollover from August of $0.355 per pound. Propylene has been on a bearish run for all of 2025 minus a small hiccup in February.
Acetone imports in August were weak at 3,200 metric tons. The pressure on oversupply remains worrisome in both Europe and Asia. However, the Trump tariffs and anti-dumping duties still protect the USA acetone market from much lower priced product globally. We anticipate European and Asian pricing to slowly dwindle as we make our way into Q4. We have heard the mood at EPCA is not positive.
Phenol and acetone demand remain poor (I am getting tired of typing this month after month). We expect downtime for two USA methyl methacrylate (MMA) producers in the early parts of Q4. However, this will be offset some with a USA phenol/acetone producer entering a longer, planned turnaround. The Feds did lower their benchmark interest rate by a quarter point. We suspect several more cuts needed to jumpstart the construction industry.
We called for +/- $0.01 per pound movement in the acetone settlement from July to August. For September’s settlement, we will call for the same. We just don’t see much movement on the feedstock side to call for much else. Enjoy the rest of your September all!
