Asia’s styrenics demand eases in some regions after March uptick

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Asia’s demand for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polystyrene (PS) has eased in some areas after a pick-up in March, said sellers and traders.

After coming off a slow February, post-Lunar New Year holidays, demand for resins showed some improvement in March. Expectations among sellers were for the buying momentum to continue rising into April as Chinese factories typically kick into higher production rates in the second quarter.

However, following the uptick in March, demand for resins has shown signs of a slowdown in certain parts of the region, particularly in southeast Asia.

“There is some slowdown in certain parts of southeast Asia recently as customers have bought some parcels in March,” said a resins producer in southeast Asia.

The sentiment was echoed by another supplier in southeast Asia, although generally sellers remained cautiously optimistic of a gradual improvement in the second quarter.

“We sold quite a lot of material in March and the slight slowdown in April is not affecting us too badly since our inventories are low,” said another resins supplier in southeast Asia.

While buying interests have eased somewhat in southeast Asia, buying impetus for resins in China was heard to be still adequate.

“Buying interest for ABS appears to be at around the same level as late March but PS has not improved,” said a South Korean producer.

Suppliers of PS continued to observe weaker-than-expected improvement in April. While ABS demand is not buoyant, sellers noted a stronger pick-up for the resin compared to PS.

ABS is used in the production of toys, appliances, consumer electronics as well as the automotive and construction sectors. PS is used in the packaging, consumer items, toys and consumer electronics sectors. 

Other styrenic resin markets like expandable PS (EPS) were heard continuing to improve into April, albeit at a gradual rate.

“The onset of warmer weather in northern and eastern China has spurred demand for EPS from the construction sector,”  said an eastern China producer.

Suppliers of EPS expect further pick-up in demand from the exports sector as Chinese factories usually raise output in the second quarter.

“We hope the nascent demand improvement will gather more steam as the second quarter progress,” said a Taiwanese producer.

EPS is made into styrofoam and is used for packaging as well as insulation panels in roads and buildings.