Asia top stories – weekly summary
ICIS Editorial
07-Oct-2019
SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 4 October 2019.
Asia fuel and petrochemical supply on the rise
after China’s Golden Week
In Asia, supply will be on the rise for fuels
and some petrochemicals after the Golden Week
holidays (1-7 October) in key market China.
Asia PBR supply to tighten on margins erosion
and weak demand
Supply of polybutadiene rubber (PBR) in Asia
may tighten further due to upcoming plant
shutdowns and production cutbacks as major
Asian PBR makers grapple with poor margins and
weak demand.
Asia benzene retreats on crude oil slump; ample
supply expected
Asia’s benzene market remains on a downtrend
partly as a result of slump in the crude oil
futures, while market participants expect
supply to remain ample for the rest of this
year.
India’s metallocene LLDPE players remain
cautious after plastic ban deferred
India’s metallocene linear low density
polyethylene (mLLDPE) market players may remain
cautious even as the government deferred a
country-wide ban on single-use plastic, amid
concerns on persistently weak fundamental
demand.
Middle East Group II/III base oils weighed down
by soft demand
Middle East Group II and Group III base oils
prices were stable to soft this week but were
under strong downward pressure with the bearish
market likely to continue because demand has
shown no sign of improvement yet.
NE Asia C2 stays weak during China holiday;
glut may ease on cracker outage
Ethylene import prices in the well-supplied
northeast Asian market remained weak, with
limited buyers amid China’s week-long National
Day holiday on 1-7 October.
SE Asia PME faces seasonal slowdown in export
demand
Spot prices of palm methyl ester (PME)
biodiesel in southeast (SE) Asia were stable in
the week ended 3 October as prices of feedstock
crude palm oil remained stable.
Asia IPA continues upwards struggle amid firm
upstream acetone
Asia’s isopropanol (IPA) market is expected to
continue its upward struggle amid firm upstream
acetone values.
Asia naphtha crack spread at nine-month high;
premiums up
Asia’s naphtha crack spreads have climbed to
their highest in nine months, with a bout of
healthy buying set to keep market fundamentals
buoyant.
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