Is butadiene deal a one-off?

28 February 2005 00:01  [Source: ACN]

TIGHT supply boosted sentiment in butadiene markets, but the question on everyone’s mind last week was: will Chinese customers accept the high offers?

Some producers and traders maintained that Chinese buyers were capable of accepting higher butadiene costs, as derivative prices were rising. But some buyers continued to insist that the spread between derivative prices and feedstock costs was not sufficient to ensure really comfortable margins.

Butadiene prices last week were at US$1370/tonne cfr China, but there was speculation they could be a one-off deal.

Prices of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene were at US$1500/tonne cfr NEA, a US$150-200/tonne increase from January. Prices of styrene butadiene rubber had risen to US$1500/tonne cfr NEA, US$130/tonne up from the previous month.

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