In China, futures prices for many commodities and stock prices showed signs of a rise as the Chinese government announced economic stimulus before the National Day holidays in October. Under this situation, prices for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and ethylene glycol (EG), major feedstocks of polyesters, were temporarily firm. After the holidays, makers of PTA's derivatives are mainly consuming their inventories and buying interest for PTA is not strong. For EG, inventories at ports are decreasing while derivative makers are raising operation rates. As a result, supply/demand is tightening.

In the market going forward, spot demand for PTA is expected to remain firm since operation rates of derivative makers are at high levels. On the other hand, PTA facilities that previously underwent regular maintenance are restarting and supply is perceived to be ample. For this reason, prices are unlikely to rise sharply.

As for EG, costs for feedstocks including ethylene are decreasing as crude prices are bearish recently. But since inventories at ports are not high, prices might not change sharply. Regarding paraxylene (PX), a feedstock of PTA, Ningbo Daxie's 1.60 mil mt/year PX facility entered maintenance from Oct 10 and operation rates of PX facilities in the country are seen to be decreasing. On the other hand, as operation rates of PTA facilities are high, supply/demand was tight.