Crude boosts Asia naphtha, little impact on aroms

10 April 2008 05:12  [Source: ICIS news]

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Asian naphtha prices surged over $15/tonne (€9.45/tonne) on Thursday after a rally in crude to record high overnight, but it failed to lift aromatic values, traders said.

Second-half May indications for naphtha were at $933.00-936.00/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Japan as crude futures hovered above $110/bbl. Northeast Asian cracker operators deferred purchases earlier this week on high prices.

US crude soared to touch a record $112.21/bbl in the previous session on supply concerns and a weaker dollar. Data from the Energy Information Administration showed a drop in crude oil, gasoline and distillate stocks on Wednesday.

Crude palm oil (CPO) futures surged in tandem with benchmark third month delivery contracts on Bursa Malaysia traded at ringgit (M$) 3,415/tonne ($1,077/tonne) at 3:30 GMT, up M$90/tonne from Thursday’s open.

Benzene prices edged $5/tonne higher to $1,090-1,100/tonne FOB (free on board) Korea with a bid heard at $1,087/tonne FOB for a big berth any May loading parcel. No offers could be located.

May styrene monomer (SM) cargoes on an FOB Korea basis were $5-10/tonne higher with bids at $1420/tonne and offers at $1440/tonne.

However, toluene prices were notionally unchanged at $1,020-1,030/tonne FOB Korea.

The impact from high crude prices would take around two weeks to filter down the chain to the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) markets, a producer and a trader said.

($1 = €0.63/M$3.17)

Desmond Chia, Hong Chou Hui, Clive Ong, Mahua Chakravarty and Jeremiah Chan contributed to this article.

By: Florence Tan
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