US styrene spot market quiet on Asian holidays

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The US styrene spot market was very quiet this week on the back of the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia, market sources said on Friday.

Nothing was heard to have traded, and even notional bids and offers were hard to come by. February spot prices firmed late in the week, with a notional price range heard from 40.10-40.35 cents/lb.

Buying interest from Asia weakened ahead of the current holidays, as some downstream plants were expected to trim output at that time. The US ships styrene to the region where the prices are the best, and that can flip back and forth between Asia and Europe. So far this year, even with the current slowdown in demand, exports have moved to Asia as demand and prices have been better there.

January styrene contracts settled earlier this month at an average decrease of 1-2 cents/lb from December, market participants confirmed. Forward-negotiated February contracts were done by a few producers at a decrease of 1.25-2.0 cents/lb, the producers confirmed. As a result, January contracts, which will settle in early February, are expected to follow the trend of the forward negotiated contracts, market participants said.

US styrene producers include Americas Styrenics, Carville Styrenics, INEOS Styrolution, LyondellBasell Chemical and Westlake Styrene.