China's SPEX curbs short selling on methanol

14 October 2008 10:43  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--China’s Shanghai Petroleum Exchange (SPEX) has issued temporary restrictions on the short selling of forward physical traded methanol from 14 October to rein in unstable methanol prices, it said on Tuesday 

"The speculative move in methanol trading on our electronic platform created panic in the spot market, so we have to take measures to save the falling methanol market," SPEX said on its website.

Traders who do not hold cargoes in delivery warehouses are no longer being allowed to trade on the e-platform, a source close to SPEX said.

The duration of the restriction has not been declared yet,  the source told ICIS news.

Other products traded on the SPEX platform - styrene monomer (SM), dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and diethylene glycol (DEG) - will not be affected.

Domestic methanol fell yuan (CNY) 150-250/tonne ($22-37/tonne) from last Friday to CNY2,400-2,700/tonne ex-tank east China on Monday due to weak demand, traders said.

($1 = CNY6.84)

Dolly Wu contributed to this article
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By: Judith Wang
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