US-based acetyls and engineered materials producer Celaneses reported on Thursday a year-on-year rise in Q1 net income because sales rose faster than costs, said the company.
The following shows the company's Q1 performance. Figures are in millions of dollars. Quarter on quarter, income fell because of higher taxes and pension charges.
For Engineered Materials, Celanese said the business produced to meet elevated demand, led by the automotive sector. The segment fully passed through cost inflation for raw materials, energy and logistics. Quarter on quarter, volumes rose by 23% and price rose by 7%.
For Acetyl Chain, volumes rose 8% quarter on quarter and prices fell 3%. Moderation in acetic acid prices in China were largely offset by shifting volumes in the Western Hemisphere. That shift allowed Celanese to capture higher pricing in vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), emulsions, redispersible powders and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA).
Looking ahead, Celanese expects to report USD4.50/share in second-quarter adjusted earnings. For the year, 2022 adjusted earnings should approach 2021 levels, which were USD18.12/share, Celanese said. Earlier, it expected adjusted earnings to be at least USD15/share.
As MRC reported earlier, in H2, 2021, Celanese Corporation announced a force majeure (FM) in China for vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) shipments from its plant Nanjing, China. Celanese temporarily shut down its acetic anhydride and VAM production in Nanjing to comply with requirements of government departments in order to achieve dual energy consumption targets in the Jiangsu Province in 2021. Thus, its VAM plan with the capacity of 300,000 mt/year was shut on 17 September, 2021, and its resumed operations on 9 October, 2021.
According to MRC's DataScope report, December EVA imports to Russia rose by 3,185% year on year to 3,530 tonnes from 3,420 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation grew in 2021 by 17,31% year on year to 44,720 tonnes (38,190 tonnes in 2020).
Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 8,500 employees worldwide and had 2021 net sales of USD8.5 billion.
mrchub.com