Asia ethylene margins plunge on weaker spot

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Asia ethylene margins tumbled during the week ended 23 September on weaker spot prices and higher feedstock costs, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

Naphtha-based ethylene margins fell by 15% in both Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, while LPG-based ethylene margins fell by 17% in each region.

That put NE Asia naphtha-based margins at $719/tonne and SE Asia naphtha-based margins at $632/tonne.

For LPG-based ethylene margins, NE Asia fell to $690/tonne and SE Asia fell to $571/tonne.

In NE Asia, spot ethylene prices fell $67/tonne, and in SE Asia spot ethylene prices fell $42/tonne.

Naphtha costs for ethylene production rose by $59/tonne in NE Asia and SE Asia, while co-product credits rose $2/tonne in NE Asia and fell by $6/tonne in SE Asia.

For LPG-based ethylene, feedstock costs on a production basis rose $67/tonne and $68/tonne in NE Asia and SE Asia, respectively.

Cracker co-product credit values fell by $5/tonne and $11/tonne in NE Asia and SE Asia, respectively.