Brokers said that naphtha market sentiment remained positive, because the premium of naphtha to be delivered in the first half of February / Brent crude oil futures rose by US $7.30 to US $150.50 per ton.
Naphtha supplies are likely to remain tight, because after Indian refiners sold huge quantities of naphtha, inventory sales seem to have slowed down currently.
Shipping brokers and traders said arbitrageurs even tried to book naphtha cargo for mid-December shipment from the U.S. Gulf to East Asian market, but they did not succeed. Next month may see more influx of European naphtha into Asian market.
Shipping sources have reported that a tanker carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha sailed in the first week of Norway to Indonesia. It is expected that, more than 680,000 tons of naphtha cargoes will be shipped from northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean region to East Asian market, between the second half of November and December.
Open specification naphtha prices of the first half of February in Japan grew by $15.50 to $702.50 per ton.
The spread between the first half of February and the second half of February was $ +8.00 dollars / ton, the spread between the first half of February / the first half of March was $ +14.00 / ton.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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