Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 3 July 2020.

India Customs tightens clearance process for Chinese imports
India had recently tightened physical checks on imports from China, causing delays in clearing of consigned Chinese goods, consequently clogging ports and freight stations in the south Asian nation.

GCC PE, PP July offers rise on tight supply, Asia market uptrend
Polyolefin offers for July-lifting cargoes in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region have increased on the back of tight supply and recent uptrend in Asian markets.

Asia June industry conditions improve but pandemic can stifle recovery
The manufacturing downturn in most of Asia eased in June as lifting of pandemic-induced restrictions allowed more factories to resume operations, but sluggish demand amid rising global coronavirus infections will continue to weigh on recovery.

Asia benzene gets support from oil rebound; long supply a concern
Asia benzene market slumped in the first half of the week with concerns of a long supply weighing on sentiment.

SE Asian SBR demand may rise as economies reopen
Demand for styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) is expected to pick up in southeast Asia as economies in this region reopen, amid tightened supply and rising feedstock costs.

Asia naphtha draws support from sturdy demand; premiums firm
Asia naphtha prices are finding support from healthy downstream sectors, helping to underpin spot cargo premiums, with supportive near-term demand likely to be sustained.

China MEG demand stable; oversupply to worsen on new capacities
China’s monoethylene glycol (MEG) demand is largely steady amid ample supply, which is likely to get worse with new capacities coming on stream in the second half of the year.

Asia petrochemical shares, oil tumble as global virus cases exceed 10m
Asian petrochemical shares tumbled along with oil prices on Monday as confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe surpassed 10m, with the US as the worst-hit country.