Ethylene prices in Asia dropped, according to Polymerudpate, as buying interest waned. CFR Northeast Asia ethylene prices dropped to $690/tonne, with CFR Southeast Asia prices at $680/tonne. The market was impacted by sluggish downstream styrene monomer (SM) markets as well as shutdowns at derivative plants, including a 380,000 tonnes/year monoethylene glycol plant belonging to Sinopec Shanghai.
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) prices were firm, affected in part by last week’s outage at QAPCO’s steam cracker in Mesaieed. LDPE offers to India ranged from $1230 to $1240/tonne CFR, with offers from QAPCO at $1270/tonne CFR.
Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) prices softened in Asia as buying interest shrunk, particularly from China where seasonal agricultural-sheet demand dried up. Southeast Asia prices were assessed at $1135/tonne, but a trader contacted by Polymerupdate said it would be hard to predict whether LLDPE prices will fall much further given recent gains in crude prices and the strength in LDPE. High-density film prices were at $1175 to $1185/tonne CFR Far East Asia.
Polystyrene (PS) prices dropped more than $100/tonne following a plunge in SM. General-purpose PS on a CFR China basis fell to $960/tonne, with high-impact PS falling to $1060/tonne CFR China. CFR Southeast Asia prices of GPPS and HIPS fell to $950/tonne and $1070/tonne, respectively.
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) prices fell about $90/tonne to $1350 to $1360/tonne CFR Northeast Asia, while CFR Southeast Asia prices fell to $1350 to $1360/tonne. Taiwanese ABS producer Chi Mei was reported to have slashed its offer prices from $1500/tonne CIF Hong Kong to $1400/tonne CIF Hong Kong. Toray Plastics planned to restart its 110,000 tonnes/year ABS plant on completion of its annual turnaround. —[email protected]
