Japan's Tosoh sells Mar VCM at 9% higher than Feb cargoes

18 February 2009 05:44  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Japanese producer Tosoh Corp has sold March vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) cargoes at around 9% more than the price fetched in the previous month, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

The cargoes were sold at $600/tonne (€474/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) NE Asia (northeast Asia) compared to $550/tonne CFR NE Asia in February.

Around 20,000 tonnes of the material were sold to Chinese buyers, at a price that was just $20/tonne lower than its initial offer of $620/tonne CFR NE Asia while another 10,000 tonnes remained under negotiations at the time of writing, the source said.

The low production rate of domestic carbide-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers in China continued to be the main factor lifting Asia’s VCM prices, traders and producers said.

The ensuing supply tightness of carbide-based PVC in the Chinese domestic market has been encouraging local ethylene-based PVC producers to operate at relatively high rates, stoking demand for VCM, industry sources said.

($1 = €0.79)

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By: Ng Hun Wei
+65 6780 4359

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