Asian Benzene market rebounded by US $15.75 per ton on Wednesday. FOB South Korea Benzene closed at $795-796 per ton and FOB Southeast Asian Benzene closed at $793.5-794.5 per ton and market trade was active.
December cargo and January cargo were offered at $782 per ton in the morning. Two deals for January shipment were made at $795 per ton in the afternoon and one deal was made between SK Energy and South Korea based Jaewon. Another deal was traded at $795 per ton between Winsway and Caltex for shipment in December.
Outside transaction window, Marubeni and MBK made a deal at $800 per ton for shipment in December and SK Energy and Trammochem also closed a transaction at $800 per ton, with shipment in January.
Market participants believed that the rise in prices of Benzene benefited from the strong trends displayed by styrene in Asia, while a few others said that it was due to the arbitrage of styrene from the United States to Asia, which has increased trade volume.
Styrene price in Asia rose to $1000 per ton FOB Korea. Spread between Styrene and Benzene widened to $208.50 per ton and spread between benzene and naphtha stood at $114 per ton. In China, Benzene prices rose to 5,900-6,000 Yuan per ton, due to support from Styrene.
Nippon Oil planned to cut operating rate of its aromatics units in Kuwait and Mizushima to 70-75 percent.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - China
marketing@alchempro.com
