South Korean ABS offers face downward corrections in Turkey

Expectations among Turkish ABS players weakened now that a South Korean producer issued $100/ton drops for new shipment cargos. This was not caught by a surprise by participants due to a massive premium of import market over China, while the recent decline was deemed as a healthy correction.

South Korean ABS natural inj. offers were assessed $100-150/ton lower at $2550-2570/ton CIF Turkey, cash no duty week over week.

This was in sync with Asian ABS markets, where prices have been on a downtrend since late October 2020. Last week, Far East Asian ABS offers were assessed $50-70/ton lower on CIF China/SEA basis. “Although import volumes remain limited in the region, local ABS stocks are high in China and weigh down on sentiment ahead of the New Year holidays,” opined a regional player. Still, rebounding spot styrene in the light of strong crude oil futures will be a factor to watch going forward.

A trader in Turkey commented, “We expect to receive new prices from our South Korean supplier at or below $1500/ton CIF, cash. China’s import ABS market was dragged down by the previous losses in styrene prices as well as a year-end slowness which weighs on Turkey.” Players concurred that demand relatively subsided due to weaker expectations regarding the coming term.

Following the latest correction, the premium of Turkey’s import ABS natural market over China narrowed to $485/ton last week from $570/ton in late December, the weekly average data from ChemOrbis suggest. This shows that Asian offers to Turkey have room for further drops in the days ahead.