Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 2 December 2022.

Asian R-LDPE producers turn to deep-sea origins for feedstock
Asian producers of recycled low-density polyethylene (R-LDPE) will continue to turn to deep-sea sources of feedstock as availability in the region was drained by lower manufacturing rates.

NE Asia ethylene little changed; China sees high January spot demand
Northeast Asia’s spot ethylene import prices were broadly stable, as the emergence of more competitive offers for December-arrival cargoes was offset by high spot demand for January amid limited 2023 term offers.

South Korea truckers’ strike results in $1.2bn of shipment disruptions in November
The ongoing truckers’ strike in South Korea has caused won (W) 1.6tr ($1.2bn) worth of shipment disruptions in November across all industries, with some petrochemical companies now looking to reduce production this week.

Asia naphtha prices buoyed by crude oil; defies low petchem demand
Asia naphtha prices are riding on the coattails of elevated crude oil prices amid choppy trade, even as petrochemical demand is subdued.

India fiscal Q2 GDP growth slows to 6.3% on high inflation, weak exports
India’s economic growth slowed down to a 6.3% in its fiscal second quarter ending September 2022, dragged down by contractions in the manufacturing and mining sectors amid high inflation and weak exports.

S Korea Nov petrochemical exports fall 27%; Q4 GDP to contract on truckers’ strike
South Korea’s petrochemical exports in November fell by 26.5% year on year to $3.55bn due to weaker overall demand from primary market China and amid logistics disruptions late in the month caused by the nationwide truckers’ strike.

Asia ethylene dichloride demand may stay muted amid cloudy downstream view
Asia’s spot demand for ethylene dichloride (EDC) is likely to be capped in the near-term, due to main derivative polyvinyl chloride’s (PVC) poor performance, while spot supply could remain healthy from deep-sea suppliers.

China MEG 2023 import contract talks ongoing; bid-offer gap wide
Negotiations for China’s 2023 monoethylene glycol (MEG) import contracts are under way, with market players having difficulty in reconciling bids and offers.

South Korea government orders striking truckers in cement industry back to work
South Korea’s government issued on Tuesday an executive order to force protesting unionised truckers serving the cement industry to return to work, taking into account a huge number of halted construction projects because of the nationwide strike.

INSIGHT: Asia BDO entrenched in downtrend, a reversal to prior year’s bull-run
The downtrend in Asia’s 1,4-butanediol (BDO) market appears to have become entrenched with a further slump seen as we head towards year end.

South Korea’s construction projects halted as truckers’ strike hits fifth day
A huge number of construction projects in South Korea have had to be halted as the unionised truckers’ strike in the country has been hampering deliveries of cement and steel deliveries over the past five days.

Crude falls more than $2/bbl on China COVID-19 unrest, wiping out Ukraine war gains
Crude prices fell by more than $2/bbl on Monday on heightened demand concerns following an outbreak of unrest in China.

Crude falls by $2/bbl, Asia petrochemical shares dip on China COVID-19 protests
Crude prices slumped on Monday, tumbling by more than $2/bbl, while shares of petrochemical companies in Asia took a beating on demand concerns amid growing protests in China against strict pandemic curbs.