Asia SBR makers hike offers by $100/tonne on soaring SM, BD costs

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) producers in Asia hiked their offers for the material by $100/tonne this week on the back of soaring costs of feedstocks butadiene (BD) and styrene monomer (SM), market sources said on Tuesday.

Spot offers for non-oil 1502 SBR were quoted at $1,450-1,500/tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight) China this week, they said.

Prices of feedstock BD rose to an average of $1,030/tonne CFR NE Asia on 17 April, up by more than 20% since 20 March, according to ICIS data.

SM, on the other hand, surged by 30% over the same period to average $1,420/tonne CFR NE Asia, the data showed.

“With the feedstock BD and SM prices going up so sharply, we have no choice but to increase our offers for the non-oil 1502 grade as our margins are being eroded,“ an SBR producer said.

SBR is a raw material for the production of tyres for the automotive industry.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections