April PVC cargoes into China fall around $40/tonne

19 March 2009 10:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--A major northeast Asian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer has sold its monthly cargoes for April arrival into China at around $40/tonne (€29.6/tonne) lower than the levels seen in the previous month, producers and traders said on Thursday.

Cargoes were sold at $650-660/tonne CFR (cost and freight) China Main Port (CMP), compared to the $690-700/tonne CFR CMP deal levels for March business. The producer had offered its April cargoes at $660/tonne CFR CMP earlier in the week, marking the first time decline in the monthly offers for imports into China this year.

PVC prices have fallen largely due to persistently sluggish downstream demand and a general softening in carbide-based PVC values in the Chinese domestic market, traders said. Prices of carbide-based PVC in east China, for example, fell from around $940/tonne ex-warehouse (EXWH) in early February to around $880/tonne EXWH last week, according to global chemical market intelligence ICIS pricing.

Most Chinese domestic buyers, who have taken over from the re-export market as the main demand driver in recent months, can select to purchase either locally-produced carbide-based PVC or import the ethylene-grade cargoes.

China’s demand for ethylene-based PVC imports, however, could rebound in the coming weeks with the expiration of low electricity tariffs in parts of the country, producers said. This will increase the production cost of carbide-based PVC and increase the competitiveness of ethylene-based cargoes, traders added.

($1 = €0.74)

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By: Ng Hun Wei
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