OUTLOOK ’19: Asia ethanolamines may stay soft on weak upstream, slow Q1 demand

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Asia’s ethanolamines markets may be weighed down by weak upstream ethylene and ethylene oxide (EO) values, as well as slow demand in the first quarter of 2019. Recent spot prices of monoethanolamines (MEA), diethanolamines (DEA) and triethanolamines (TEA) for drummed cargoes have broadly been on the decline across Asia, in step with falling feedstock costs. Notably, China has finalised anti-dumping duties (ADD) on imports of ethanolamines from the US, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Thailand, the Ministry of Commerce said. The final levies were announced on 29 October, following an investigation that lasted one year. However, the earlier preliminary ADDs in June and final ADDs in October did not appear to bolster the domestic prices, amid bearish market conditions particularly in the second half of 2018.