(ICIS) -- Celanese declared force majeure (FM) on US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) because of a disruption at a Texas plant of a critical supplier, the company told customers in a letter on Monday. Combined with another move by the company in Europe last month, Celanese FM declarations on VAM have covered much of the globe in the past three weeks.
Celanese told European customers in a letter dated 25 March, that a temporary disruption at its Nanjing, China, acetic acid plant had forced the extension of a previously announced China allocation and FM into the European market and Asia outside of China regions.
The latest FM, explained in a letter dated 18 April, said there had been an ⌠unexpected disruption in supply from a critical supplier at Celanese's VAM plant in Bay City.
The letter said the company was imposing an immediate 65% sales allocation for customers, with allocation levels based on the average of the last six months of purchases between October 2010 and March 2011.
US VAM's major feedstocks are acetic acid and ethylene. Celanese is one of the world's largest producers of acetic acid.