Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 7 January 2022.

OUTLOOK ’22: Asia butyl glycol Q1 import sentiment to stay weak
Poor sentiment for butyl glycol (BG) imports in Asia will likely persist in the first quarter of 2022, even as overall supply may tighten due to a few upcoming plant turnarounds.

OUTLOOK ’22: India, Mideast PVC supply to improve; market sentiment turns better
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) supply to India and the Middle East, particularly from the US, is expected to improve this year following tight availability in 2021.

OUTLOOK ’22: Asia PX faces oversupply challenges amid continual capacity expansions
Asia’s paraxylene (PX) market is likely to stay in an oversupplied situation in 2022, with new capacities scheduled for commercial operations starting from the second quarter of the year.

OUTLOOK ’22: Asia acetic acid face Q1 supply pressure barring unplanned plant outages
Asia’s acetic acid near term outlook was overall downbeat on expectations of mounting supply ahead of the impending recovery from unplanned outages in China, barring any major unplanned plant outages.

OUTLOOK ’22: Asia SM activity hinges on plant run rates, reverse arbitrage in H1
rading activity and overall fundamentals in Asia’s styrene monomer (SM) market will likely hinge on plant utilisation rates across the region and the ability to sustain a reverse arbitrage in the first half of the year.