Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics hikes October PVC offers by $10-20/tonne

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) raised its official offers for October-lifting polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cargoes on Monday by $10-20/tonne (€8-16/tonne) from September prices, on the back of firm feedstock ethylene prices and tight spot PVC supply, a company source said.

October-lifting parcels are offered at $1,060/tonne CFR (cost and freight) China, at $1,060/tonne CFR SE (southeast) Asia and at $1,090/tonne CFR India, the source said.

These prices reflect an increase of $10/tonne for China and SE Asia’s prices, and an increase of $20/tonne for the Indian market.

Offers made to India had a bigger increase because of increased confidence on the suppliers’ side following the recent appreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, the source said.

The end of the monsoon season in India also meant that buyers in the country would purchase more spot cargoes to replenish their inventories, the source said.

A usual discount of $10/tonne for letters-of-credit (L/C) at-sight payments, and for bulk purchases of over 1,000 tonnes applies, the source said.

FPC’s volumes offered for October were “less than usual” because of ongoing turnarounds at the company’s chlor-alkali facilities, the source said without providing the exact quantity.

Most market participants consider the price increase reasonable, considering factors such as shortened supply and high ethylene prices.

($1 = €0.74)

Additional reporting by Stephanie Zhang and Becky Peng