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 November 2022.

China’s phenol faces headwinds from poor demand, new capacities
China’s phenol prices are expected to fluctuate downwards in the short term as a result of intensive start-ups of new capacities and muted downstream demand, said most market participants.

China C2 spot buying supported up to year-end; ’23 term talks see slow start
China’s spot ethylene (C2) buying is expected to remain healthy until at least the end of the year due to the uncertain term supply for 2023, downstream capacity growth and weak domestic methanol-based output.

Saudi Aramco to build $7bn Shaheen petrochemical project in South Korea
Saudi Aramco, through its subsidiary S-Oil, will build a won (W) 9.3tr ($7bn) petrochemical project in Ulsan, South Korea which would include a 1.8m tonne/year mixed-feed cracking facility.

INSIGHT: China’s property rescue plan to boost some petrochemicals
China’s latest measures to rescue the stressed property sector are expected to lift some petrochemicals, although they are unlikely to reverse bearish sentiment on the sluggish property market, according to economists and analysts.

China outlook dims further on fresh COVID-19 surge, real estate slump
China’s economic outlook just turned dimmer amid downbeat October data, with surging domestic COVID-19 infections and slumping real estate market threatening to aggravate weak petrochemical demand.

Weak demand outweighs refined COVID-19 policy, capping China PP price rise
China’s polypropylene (PP) futures surged following the release of the refined COVID-19 policy on 11 November, but the market may still face pressure toward the year-end amid tepid demand recovery, intensive arrivals of competitively-priced imports and expected new plant start-ups.

China PC import price at over two-year low; demand outlook poor
hina’s average import price of moulding grade polycarbonate (PC) slumped to more than a two-year low as poor demand lingered while supply stayed plentiful.