Market trends: Ethylene on the rise

03 May 2004 00:01  [Source: ACN]

Ethylene rises by nearly US$50/tonne but rally only expected to last a few weeks. The emergence of close to 100 000 tonne/year of Indian napthha weakens sentiment

Ethylene: Supported by limited availability, prices rose by nearly US$50/tonne with a fixture to Indonesia settled at slightly below US$850/tonne cfr Indonesia. A 3000-tonne Thai cargo for lifting in the second half of May was concluded at around US$800/tonne fob Thailand while a second cargo from the same country was heard settled US$10-15/tonne higher.

In NEA, a South Korean buyer bought a May cargo at slightly below US$800/tonne cfr Korea while a Chinese producer sold one cargo to a Japanese trader at US$755-765/tonne fob China. However, some market participants believed that the price rally would not last beyond the next few weeks.

Naphtha: The emergence of nearly 100 000 tonne of naphtha from India had weakened sentiment, said traders. But the MoPJ was unchanged at US$351.725/tonne early last week due to stable crude prices.

Honam Petrochemical and LG Petrochemical were reported to have settled their annual naphtha contracts at a premium of around US$3/tonne.

Propylene: Sentiment in the market was mixed with Chinese buyers in no mood to accept numbers above US$710-715/tonne cfr China while buyers in SEA settled for an increase of US$5-30/tonne. Traders reported that cargoes were sold at US$745-770/tonne cfr Indonesia and US$735/tonne cfr Philippines. But given the state of the Chinese polypropylene market, some players were doubtful that a buyer would have paid as much as US$770/tonne cfr Indonesia. Fresh offers were higher at US$770-800/tonne cfr SEA. In NEA, one cargo was sold at US$700-710/tonne fob NEA for shipment to SEA.

Butadiene: Lack of spot supplies continued to hamper market activity. A producer claimed receiving bids at US$920-930/tonne cfr China while offers were heard at as high as US$950/tonne cfr China. A Chinese buyer was in negotiations for 5000 tonne European cargo for end-June arrival at around US$900/tonne cfr China while the trader was targeting US$930-950/tonne cfr China.

Methanol: Prices in China remained firm with cargoes for May and June arrival settled at US$270/tonne cfr China. Offers were at US$275-280/tonne cfr China for June and July cargoes while bids were at slightly below US$270/tonne cfr China. High coal prices continued to affect domestic production. The domestic price was around Rmb2800/tonne ex-tank. There were reports that Libyan and South American product had been booked for delivery to NEA in the coming weeks.

The mood in SEA was subdued with deals concluded at US$265/tonne cfr SEA. Offers of US$275/tonne cfr SEA failed to draw buying interest. Demand in NEA was said to be strong due to healthy formaldehyde, acetic acid and polyacetal markets.

MTBE: Markets were stable. A producer was looking for US$345-350/tonne fob Singapore after settling one cargo at US$345/tonne fob Singapore. Chinese buying ideas were at US$350-355/tonne cfr China.

Ammonia: Offers out of Yuzhnyy were reported to have risen by US$10/tonne to US$140/tonne fob Yuzhnyy. High gas prices in the US, which had reduced local production, was said to be one of the factor responsible for the upturn in offers.

No fixtures were reported in Asia. Samsung Fine Chemicals is due to close an import tender for 35 000 tonne for arrival at end-June this week. Given the current offers from Yuzhnyy and the Middle East and the freight rate, the lowest price possible for the tender is US$195/tonne cfr Korea, said a trader.

Bulk chemical spot prices, US$/tonne

	Asia/Pacific spot	US/Euro contracts
	NE Asia1	S Asia and SE Asia2	US3	NWE4
Naphtha	351.725 cfr Japan	–	na	na
Ethylene	800 cfr Korea	850	711 Apr	607 Q2
Propylene5	700-710	745-770	733 Apr	525 Q2
Butadiene	810 cfr Taiwan6	680-7006	640 Apr	520 Q2
Methanol	270 cfr China	265	227 Mar	200 Q2
MTBE	340 cfr China6	345 fob SEA	na	na
Ammonia	200 cfr Taiwan6	169.50 cfr India6	182(cfr) (2H Apr)	na

¹ Prices are fob Korea unless otherwise indicated

² Prices are cfr SEA unless otherwise indicated

³ US prices are contract le­vels in US$/tonne on an fob basis, courtesy of ECN, unless otherwise stated

⁴ European free-delivered ontract prices in Euro/tonne unless otherwise stated

⁵ Polymer grade

⁶ No recent confirmed deals

MoPJ = Mean of Platt’s Japan

na = not available

Prices contained in this report are obtained by the ACN team through consultation with producers, consumers and merchants in the regions indicated. They are a guide to price levels of recent business and reflect medium to large tonnage sales. Spot prices are quoted as indicated: cfr – cost and freight; fob – free on board; cif – cost, insurance and freight; FD – free delivered. Spot prices are based on information available mid-week prior to the date of issue. Dollar prices are based on prevailing rates of exchange.

< previous article(VIDEO - ICIS news Asia Lunchtime Bulletin 2 November 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly