CFR Far East
In the CFR Far East market last week, prices weakened due to increasing supply. The Rim Asia Index for propane and butane as of Nov 28 was at $622.75/mt, down $13.00/mt and $8.00/mt from Nov 22. The spread between propane and butane prices in the December CP was set at $5/mt and the spread shrank compared to market expectations. Thus, a decrease in butane prices were smaller than that for propane prices. In the market for first-half January delivery, sellers emerged. A 23,000mt propane cargo was traded among traders last Wednesday and one South Korean importer sold two 23,000mt propane cargoes on Thursday. Apart from that, several traders were seen to have room to sell 46,000mt propane cargoes. On the demand side, sources perceived that several propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants in China resumed operations from December and demand was expected to improve.
　
FOB Middle East
The December CP was set at $635/mt for propane and $630/mt for butane. Sources pointed out that the CP for butane was higher than market forecasts. For January loading, sellers with 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes emerged with offers heard at a discount of $5/mt to the January CP. Further, a Kuwaiti producer and a Qatari producer were believed to have room for spot sale for January loading. On the other hand, buying interest was weak. In the paper market, the values for January CP swap were higher than CFR Far East quotations and buyers were not keen to purchase on an FOB basis.
　
Asia Pressurized Market
For South China loading, importers apparently had room to offer spot cargoes for December loading at a premium of $50/mt to the December CP. There were available cargoes as well in the Southeast Asia. Some sellers were offering spot cargoes for January delivery to the Philippines and offers were reported at a premium of $90/mt and below to the January CP. Meanwhile, one importer did not decide whether it moved on spot purchase since it wanted to check the domestic sales situation in December at first.