Asian Ethylene prices last week ended showed a mixed trend.
It went up in South East Asian region, whereas in North East region, the spot prices dropped down due to sufficient availability from Taiwan and Japan.
Sources said overall buoyancy was witnessed across related product sectors including downstream PE buyers, whereas the North East region was found reducing bid prices for ethylene last week.
The trend was observed due to increased supplies in the face of lack of demand with buyers seen retreating even for offers above $930 per metric ton CFR Taiwan mark.
Asian demand for PE pushed up upstream ethylene markets across South East Asia with buyers ready to strike a deal between $1010 per metric ton to $1020 per metric ton CFR levels.
Ethylene shipments at competitive prices between the two regions is not possible at this time of the year due to higher freight rates between North and South East Asia.
The enhanced supply situation is expected to continue in North East region, sources said.
Nippon Petrochemicals' metathesis (double decpmposition) unit in Kawasaki, Japan has been shut down following some mechanical fault, further affecting the availability of ethylene in the region.
LG Chem and Lotte Daesan, have both successfully restarted their crackers last week following the unplanned outage.
LG cracker's ethylene production capacity is 480 kilo ton per annum and Lotte Daesan's has a capacity of 600 kilo ton per annum in north east region.
This new development will further help to keep prices in check in the coming times.
marketing@alchempro.com
