Asia June TDI contract settlement falls $350/tonne from May

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Asian toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) contracts settled at a lower price for the fourth month in a row in June, down $350/tonne (€276.5/tonne) May’s levels amid a supply glut and weak import demand, market players said on Thursday.

TDI majors BASF, Mitsui Chemicals and Bayer Material Science (BMS) had mostly settled their June contracts last week at $2,450-2,550/tonne CFR China Main Port (CMP)/Hong Kong, they said.

Meanwhile, some small transactions were made in the low-$2,400/tonne CFR CMP/Hong Kong and high-$2,500/tonne CFR CMP/Hong Kong levels, market sources said.

“Sales were barely two-third of what we had in May. This is no good for us,” said a key producer.

Since March, TDI contract prices had declined by 21%, tracking falls in spot prices due to strong supply in China amid a lull season in the downstream foam segment, market sources said.

Spot prices for import material were discussed on Wednesday at $2,340-2,500/tonne CFR CMP/Hong Kong, down $50-60/tonne week on week, market sources said.

In the Chinese domestic markets, prices were discussed at yuan (CNY) 19,200-21,000/tonne ($2,832-3,097/tonne) DEL (delivered) on 7 July, down CNY200-800/tonne from last week, based on ICIS data.