NPRA '08: Petrochem plans Singapore trading desk

30 March 2008 20:40  [Source: ICIS news]

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ICIS news)--Dubai-based Petrochem Middle East is launching an aromatics trading desk in Singapore to take advantage of growing business opportunities in the region, managing director Yogesh Mehta said on Sunday.

“The (trading) desk in Singapore will be up in July and will trade in aromatics,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the 33rd National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) conference.

“We already do day trading in Rotterdam. It's very successful and we expect to do even better with the new operation."

He said that the petrochemicals trader trades about 70,000 tonnes/year of toluene and 40,000 tonnes/year of mixed xylenes.

“We hope to double this with the Singapore office as it caters to countries such as China and South Korea where the markets are big,” he added.

The company, which has annual revenue totalling close to $1bn (€630m) and is the largest distributor in the Middle East, is also on track with its China plans.

Petrochem expects to buy $150m of chemicals such as maleic anhydride (MA) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and export $50m worth of products such as xylenes, glycols and toluene to China this year.

China is expected to be Petrochem’s third largest market after the Middle East and India by 2010.

The NPRA meeting began on Sunday and runs through Tuesday.

($1 = €0.63)

For more on aromatics visit ICIS chemical intelligence

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Author: Abdul Hadhi
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