Asia to receive 250,000 tonnes of deep-sea naphtha in February

07 January 2011 05:26  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Around 250,000 tonnes of naphtha from northwest Europe and the Mediterranean is expected to arrive in Asia next month, down from the 400,000-500,000 tonnes to be shipped in from the West in January, traders said on Friday.

The arbitrage volume in February was lower, as refiners in the West had ramped up their production of diesel or heating oil, at the expense of light distillates pool, to meet peak winter demand for heating, they added.

“Asian [naphtha] demand remains healthy, based on the high cracker run rates,” said a trader.

However, Asian naphtha prices were valued at $878-881/tonne (€676-678/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) Japan on Friday, down by $14.00-15.50/tonne from Thursday’s levels following overnight losses in global crude futures, ICIS data showed.

($1 = €0.77)

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By: Felicia Loo

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