China’s polymer markets open post-holiday period on a firm note

According to players in China, the polymer markets in the country have opened the post-Chinese New Year holiday period on a firmer note in line with earlier expectations based on strong upstream costs as well as planned and unplanned shutdowns at several regional plants.

In the PP and PE markets, a trader based in Xiamen stated, “Local polyolefin prices remain on a firm path following the end of the holiday due to higher futures prices as well as CNPC and Sinopec’s hike decisions. As for the import markets, we are yet to receive fresh offers from overseas suppliers, but we think that they will approach the market with increases for March. In China, many end users are yet to return to their desks after the holiday. The polyolefin outlook will be clearer next week.”

When it comes to PVC, a few players voiced their expectations of seeing higher levels from a major Taiwanese producer for March. A trader opined, “We believe that the producer will apply a minimum increase of $30/ton on their new offers for March in the upcoming weeks since they will receive better demand from India, where the impact of the demonetization is expected to ease further by March.”

In the styrenics markets, a trader reported that a Taiwanese producer applied significant increases on their ABS and PS prices to China after the holiday. The producer lifted their GPPS and HIPS offers by $200/ton from their pre-holiday levels, bringing their new prices to $1670/ton and to $1750/ton, respectively, on a CIF China, cash basis. For ABS, they issued a hike of $150/ton, with their offers currently standing at $2060/ton with the same terms. Following the producer’s hikes, import ABS prices to China broke above the $2000/ton threshold for the first time since October 2014.

In the PET market, a few traders reported that export PET prices from China witnessed fresh gains of around $20-50/ton following the end of the Chinese New Year holiday, reaching $1035-1040$/ton on an FOB, cash basis. “PET offers are pushed higher by rising MEG and PTA prices, rather than real demand,” commented a seller.