As international price of crude oil fell below US $70 / barrel mark, international PX market declined $10-30 / ton. External market downturn has brought greater psychological stress to traders.
Most people are still more pessimistic about market outlook, while the weakness of downstream market acts as an even more painful blow on PX market. On the weekend, PX price in Asia fell to $934 / ton (FOB Korea).
The market is expected to see further decline, but the pace of the drop will slow down. PX prices of May cargo were at $993-997 / ton (FOB Rotterdam) and about $960-965 / ton (FOB US Gulf).
PX price of June cargo was $928-938/ ton (FOB South Korea), the spread between Europe and Asia was $62 / ton, the spread between the US and Asia was $30 / ton. Therefore, in theory, arbitrage windows for PX cargo between Europe and Asia and Europe and US are still closed.
Isomer grade Xylene (MX) is priced at $846 / ton (CFR China) in Asian market. PX price is at $959/ ton (CFR China). The spread between MX and PX is $113 / ton. The PX-MX spread shows that PX production based on MX as raw material too suffers losses.
marketing@alchempro.com
