Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 18 June 2021.

Singapore trade recovery to continue after May NODX growth
Singapore’s external-facing industries including petrochemicals are expected to benefit from the continued recovery in global demand and higher oil prices after posting strong growth last month.

Asia PE pipe grade demand outlook weak due to seasonality and ongoing pandemic
Asia polyethylene (PE) pipe grade demand outlook is weak for July-August amid the seasonal lull in China and India, and the ongoing pandemic affecting further downstream activity in southeast Asia.

Asia crude glycerine to stay subdued; China demand yet to pick up
Asia’s crude glycerine market is expected to remain subdued in the near term despite the re-opening of the Chinese market following a three-day holiday.

INSIGHT: Rocky road ahead for Asia propylene market amid mixed downstream fortunes
The Asian propylene market is bracing for a tsunami of new supply that will come onstream in the third quarter of 2021, putting an end to an extended supply drought since the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Asian ACN sentiment soft for July on new capacity, plant restarts
Asian acrylonitrile (ACN) spot prices are gradually declining from the peak in March, which was previously supported to a certain extent on recent planned and unplanned outages in China, South Korea and Japan.