Locally-held ABS trades below imports in Turkey
by ChemOrbis Editorial Team - content@chemorbis.com
Import ABS prices followed a bullish trend since late November last year while the increasing trend gained momentum in December driven by rising production costs on a global scale, for butadiene in particular. According to ChemOrbis Price Index, import ABS injection prices stand at 2 year-highs recently boosted by 18 month-high styrene prices and record high butadiene costs at $3000/ton, both on FOB Korea basis.
However, the impact of rallying costs of import ABS found limited reflection in the locally-held market since then as the vulnerable economic and political environment kept activity cautious and put a cap on larger hikes from distributors.
Currently, the locally-held ABS natural injection market stands below the import market on a weekly average, as can be seen in the graph below:
Source: ChemOrbis Price Wizard
“South Korean ABS natural prices posted a new round of increases for February to stand at $1800-1850/ton CIF Turkey, cash. We just started to persuade buyers to accept $1850/ton ex-warehouse Turkey, cash not inc VAT,” complained distributors.
Some players pointed to the cash flow issues going on in Turkey’s polymer markets, saying, “This situation still forces a few distributors to concede to prices below their replacement costs.”
Sellers hope that demand may improve a bit in the second half of the month as USD/Turkish lira parity eased down to below 3.77 recently. Plus, China’s ABS market may return from holiday on a strong note amidst limited styrene, butadiene and ABS supplies in Asia which could pave the way for additional increases in Turkey, they remind.
However, the impact of rallying costs of import ABS found limited reflection in the locally-held market since then as the vulnerable economic and political environment kept activity cautious and put a cap on larger hikes from distributors.
Currently, the locally-held ABS natural injection market stands below the import market on a weekly average, as can be seen in the graph below:
Source: ChemOrbis Price Wizard
“South Korean ABS natural prices posted a new round of increases for February to stand at $1800-1850/ton CIF Turkey, cash. We just started to persuade buyers to accept $1850/ton ex-warehouse Turkey, cash not inc VAT,” complained distributors.
Some players pointed to the cash flow issues going on in Turkey’s polymer markets, saying, “This situation still forces a few distributors to concede to prices below their replacement costs.”
Sellers hope that demand may improve a bit in the second half of the month as USD/Turkish lira parity eased down to below 3.77 recently. Plus, China’s ABS market may return from holiday on a strong note amidst limited styrene, butadiene and ABS supplies in Asia which could pave the way for additional increases in Turkey, they remind.
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