Multiple companies are increasing their acetic acid production capacity

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Since the beginning of this year, several large acetic acid manufacturers have simultaneously announced plans to increase their production capacity, marking the onset of a new wave of construction projects for acetic acid plants. The acetic acid production project of the international chemical giant Solvay in the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park has completed its trial runs, and is set to go into operation in September. This is the largest acetic acid production project to be launched in China to date, with a production capacity of 600,000 tons per year. The 500,000-ton acetic acid production project jointly developed by British BP and Yangzi Petrochemical has officially commenced construction, with completion and operation scheduled for 2009 ； Jiangsu Supor Group, the largest acetic acid supplier in China, also announced recently that its third-phase acetic acid production project has been officially approved, with plans to add another 600,000 tons per year of production capacity by 2009. It is expected that by 2009, China’s acetic acid production capacity will increase to 4.74 million tons, an increase of about 2.6 million tons compared to 2006. The additional production capacity from these three giants – Searle, BP, and Jiangsu Supor – amounts to 1.7 million tons. By then, China’s apparent demand for acetic acid will be 3.71 million tons, and production capacity will exceed domestic demand. It is expected that by 2010, our country will shift from a net importer of acetic acid to a net exporter.