Asian aromatics prices rebound after Thursday falls

09 June 2006 05:08  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Asian aromatics prices rebounded on Friday morning after dropping sharply the previous day, with the falls seen as overdone, traders said.

The market has been volatile since refinery problems in the US late last week sparked a surge in prices there, which subsequently spilled over to Asia and Europe.

Early week trades saw benzene and toluene prices climbing up to the mid-$1000s/tonne FOB Korea. Spot deals for benzene were fixed at $1,060/tonne and toluene reached a record high of $1,055/tonne. Styrene also continued its upward march with trades reported at $1,340-1,345/tonne.

 

By mid-week, however, sentiment started to turn bearish as refinery outages at Citgo and Valero in the US and Total’s refinery fire in Antwerp were seen to have limited impact on the energy markets.

 

Asian aromatics prices were sold off sharply amid volatile trading on Thursday. Benzene prices plunged to $940/tonne for July, shedding more than $100/tonne from the week’s high. August deals were finalised at $925/tonne.

 

Toluene trades also declined by nearly $100/tonne to $960/tonne for July shipment, while closing offers slipped to $945/tonne. Likewise, styrene tumbled to $1,250/tonne for July shipment.

 

Prices rebounded on Friday, with a benzene deal detected at $985/tonne for August lifting. A toluene deal was fixed at $990/tonne for July, up from Thursday’s closing offer at $945/tonne. Two styrene deals were heard concluded at $1,260/tonne, higher than Thursday's fixtures.

By: Clive Ong
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