Asia to receive at least 500,000 tonnes Western naphtha supply

14 January 2013 04:30  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Asia will receive at least half a million tonnes of deep-sea naphtha from northwest Europe, the Mediterranean and the US from the second half of February, traders said on Monday.

The incoming flows are already pressuring down prices, they said.

At midday, Asia’s open-spec second-half February contract fell by $7.25-8.25/tonne ($5.44-6.19/tonne) from 11 January at $952-955/tonne CFR (cost & freight), in response to overall Brent crude weakness and the surge in arbitrage imports, traders said.

The naphtha crack spread against February Brent crude futures narrowed to $124.93/tonne from $135.35/tonne on 11 January, ICIS data indicated.

However, some market participants said the arbitrage volume of at least 500,000 tonnes is mainly heavy naphtha and the market still faces a shortfall of open-spec naphtha.

That would limit the fall in naphtha prices, they said.

($1 = €0.75)

By: Felicia Loo

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