Commitments and Contingencies (Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation Narrative) (Details) (Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation [Member])	Feb. 28, 2013	Dec. 31, 2008
Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of tolling arrangements		4
Number of legal actions participants		1
Number of tolling arrangement participants making demand but no claim	1

Number of tolling arrangement participants making demand but no claim.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	ce_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant