Corrected: EPCA ‘07: Helm sticks with proposal for Q4 methanol

01 October 2007 17:31  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS news story headlined "EPCA '07: Helm sticks with proposal for Q4 methanol" dated 1 October, 2007, please read in the fifth paragraph ...offer of €405/tonne... instead of ...offer of €403/tonne... A corrected story follows.

 

BERLIN (ICIS news)--Helm is sticking with its proposal of €430/tonne ($612/tonne) for the fourth-quarter methanol contract price, as it saw the market as tighter than before, a company source said on Monday.

 

 “We came to the conclusion that the market was globally tighter than we had analysed originally,” Norbert Baum, senior executive manager of Helm AG said, the sidelines of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) conference in Berlin.

 

“The beginning of last week saw prices move up in the US and €340/tonne was no longer right for the fourth-quarter,” Baum added.

 

The last reported spot deal at €355/tonne, €65/tonne higher than the previous deal, also gave support to Helm’s argument, he said.

 

Helm’s controversial offer of €405/tonne as a monthly price for October was another indication of its conviction that prices would rise further in the fourth-quarter.

 

Following discussions with customers however, Baum held out little hope that the idea of a monthly price would become reality this quarter.

 

Helm has so far been the only company to propose prices for the fourth quarter.

 

“We are the only ones to have expressed an opinion and that is deserving some merit,” Baum said.

 

Discussions were tense and the market was not close to reaching a decision on contractual pricing, he added.

 

($1 = €0.70)

By: Caroline Howard
+44 20 8652 3214

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