SE Asia PP trades in small volumes; sellers refuse to cut prices

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Polypropylene (PP) sellers in the southeast (SE) Asian market were reluctant to cut their prices further for Middle East cargoes, citing small traded volumes during the week, market sources said on Wednesday.

Converters were buying volumes of 100-200 tonnes to top up inventory, they said.

A Saudi PP flat yarn cargo for October shipment was sold at $990-1,000/tonne (cost and freight) SE Asia.

Some Middle East suppliers maintained offers for prompt shipment at $1,020-1,030/tonne CFR SE Asia, while buying ideas remained capped at $1,000/tonne CFR SE Asia.

Traders of Middle East PP copolymer grades received orders for cargoes below 100 tonnes, and were unwilling to give further price discounts, market sources said.

“We can give more discounts for buyers of above 100 tonnes, but our customers don’t want to consider buying big volumes for now,” a seller said.

On 30 September, dutiable PP flat yarn was assessed at $990-1,000/tonne CFR SE Asia, according to ICIS data.

Picture: Penang port in Malaysia (Source: WestEnd61/REX/Shutterstock)