CFR Far East

In the CFR Far East market last week, prices strengthened due to recovering buying interest. The Rim Asia Index for propane and butane as of Dec 12 was at $607.75/mt and $617.75/mt respectively, up $3.50/mt from Dec 6. Traders trying to cover their short positions surfaced and Japanese players had interest in spot purchase for cargoes for second-half January delivery. One trader from Japan seemed to have bought a 46,000mt propane cargo while 23,000mt propane cargoes were traded among traders at a discount of $1/mt to January CFR Far East quotations (equivalent to $615/mt or a discount of $15/mt to the January CP). However, demand from China was not improving. One operator of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in South China carried out a buy tender for January delivery, but it only procured a 11,000mt propane cargo.

FOB Middle East

The January CP was forecast at around $628/mt for propane and around $623/mt for butane. For January loading, many sellers could apparently sell 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes. As the CP was perceived to be relatively high, Far East importers taking term cargoes from the Middle East seemed interested to resell them on an FOB basis. On the other hand, spot demand from India was not seen and buying interest was thin. Amid bearish sentiment, discussion levels for 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes were seen to be at a discount of about $20/mt to the January CP. For February loading, buyers and sellers apparently emerged. Similar to January loading, players taking term cargoes were expected to resell them and the number of sellers might increase going forward.

Asia Pressurized Market

A Chinese importer was said to have available spot cargoes for loading in South China at the end of January to early February. On the other hand, buyers that were seeking cargoes for this loading timing were not observed. For Southeast Asia loading, a sell tender for 1,800mt of LPG for loading on Dec 13-14 by Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), a Malaysia petrochemical producer, apparently was awarded to a Malaysian supplier. In Vietnam, plants would halt operations from before Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays at the end of January 2025. Due to this, domestic demand in January was expected to decline from December.