Question-and-Answer Session
[Operator Instructions]. And your first question comes from the line of David Begleiter from Deutsche Bank.
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
Thank you, good morning.
David N. Weidman - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Dan.
Steven Sterin - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Good morning.
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
David can you describe the situation right now in China in terms of acetic acid supply, demand, pricing, weather issues? Thank you.
David N. Weidman - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dave, pricing in China today is modestly lower than it was 30 days ago, 60 days ago. But we're still in the 650 a ton range plus, minus. The weather has not had a material impact on our ability to get product out to our customers or to secure raw materials. We've got open water access and we're continuing to operate and run over there. So, that's where it is. As you know, Dave from our comments, we'd expect as the year goes on the pricing trends would tend to moderate over there as move back into ranges that would be more historic, and it moved towards that in the later half of the year.
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
And did on that given the decline in methanol, should your profitability at least they are saying that does not increase, even as prices come down?
David N. Weidman - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, there is going to be trends down on prices and then methanol prices are going to come down as well that's our forecast, our expectation. But remember Dave, across the company we're relatively in different volatility in methanol prices. One part of our business is benefited while the other one is disadvantaged with lower methanol prices. Certainly as we look at Ticona as I indicated, their margins are pressured by methanol and as methanol prices come down, you can expect to see an expansion there.
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
And just lastly on the Industrial Specialties side, is this level of income now sustainable for, in Q4 going forward?
David N. Weidman - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, I mean we're... I would say that we're at the early stages of our revitalization in Industrial Specialties. We did see two or three really good things towards the end of the quarter. We had very nice pricing in the marketplace, our mix changed towards a more advantageous, more value-added mix. And some of the restructuring costs associated... restructuring benefits associated with reducing our manufacturing footprint came in. So, our outlook is as we've indicated before that, this is a business that can do better, we're encouraged by what we saw in the fourth quarter.
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