Korean PS suppliers seek increases in Turkey

Players in Turkey received new PS offers from their South Korean suppliers with increases compared to October. The hike attempts were mainly attributed to the rising spot styrene prices in Asia supported by maintenance shutdowns across the region and supply constraints on part of producers.

Following the recent announcements, the prevailing South Korean price ranges are now standing at $1445-1470/ton for GPPS and $1515-1550/ton for HIPS, CIF Turkey, cash no duty. These levels suggested increases of $50/ton and $30/ton, respectively. “Our Korean supplier informed us that these prices are for January shipments as they will not be able ship any material in December to Turkey amidst their limited availability,” reported a trader.

PS traders in Turkey refrained from replacing much stock during the bearish trend that was in place between the middle of September and the middle of November as low end-product demand and the year-end sluggishness weighed down on the market. Meanwhile, by mid-November, Indian and Iranian sources pioneered hikes in the import market, the first time after 2 months, citing firmer styrene.

“We found the latest prices from Korea unworkably high considering the fact that Iranian cargos are still offering a more competitive edge in the market. Nonetheless, we are aware that we may face some supply constraints by the new-year,” a trader commented.

Turkey’s import PS markets were trading below China since the middle of October up until very recently, when prices have moved back on par with China’s import market owing to the hike requests from PS makers to Turkey.