December PP prices revealed in Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asia’s import PP market, both regional and overseas producers have started to announce their December offers, with new prices emerging with rollovers or modest decreases when compared to November.

Regional players mostly concurred that overall demand remained disappointing in the midst of comfortable supplies while they questioned the sustainability of the cautious rebound of spot propylene prices in Asia since the market sentiment was still bearish given ample availability.

Traders reported that two Southeast Asian producers revealed their new PP prices to the regional markets with decreases of around $10-40/ton from November. Meanwhile, an Emirati producer reportedly applied a rollover on its homo-PP offers for December shipment while lowering its PP copolymer prices by $20/ton.

A global trader commented, “Demand is not strong as it is too early for Chinese New Year preparations while too late for the year-end activities. Converters are not in a rush to replenish their stocks since most of them have enough supplies to cover their immediate needs.”

In Vietnam, a woven bag manufacturer noted, “We prefer to stay on the sidelines for now as we believe that import PP prices still have some room for further declines. Demand towards our end products is not bad. We are planning to make fresh purchases in the upcoming weeks as we will start preparations for the holidays in mid-February.”

When compared to Vietnam, demand from converters was weaker in Indonesia. A Jakarta-based trader opined, “Trading activities are quite slow as Indonesian buyers are not showing any interest in our offers despite our latest discounts. We hope that spot propylene prices can maintain their recent upturn, which was mostly triggered by firmer energy costs.”

In Thailand, a source from a local PP producer said, “The market remains quiet as buyers continue to limit their purchases according to their urgent needs, expecting to see much lower prices in the midst of comfortable supplies.”

In order to track the most up-to-date developments in Southeast Asia’s PP markets, please see our SEA-India Weekly PP Analysis (For members only).