CFR Far East

In the CFR Far East market last week, prices went down along with an increase in supply. The Rim Asia Index for propane and butane as of Jan 23 was at $630.00/mt and $620.00/mt respectively, down $10.75/mt from Jan 17. Sellers having pure propane cargoes for second-half February delivery rushed into spot sales. Strong selling interest pushed down the market. Total seven 23,000mt propane cargoes were reported to have been traded last week. Last Thursday, similar cargoes were traded at flat to February CFR Far East quotations (equivalent to $627/mt or a discount of $6/mt to the February CP as of Jan 23). On the other hand, buying interest of butane was recovering. Several players from Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea were trying to buy cargoes containing butane for March delivery.

FOB Middle East

The February CP was forecast at about $634/mt for propane and about $624/mt for butane. For February loading, firm talks were not heard. For March loading, spot supply was perceived to be ample. Many sellers were apparently holding 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes. On the other hand, buyers were virtually not seen. Further, demand from Southeast Asia was not expected to strengthen going forward. Under this situation, discussion levels for 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes for March loading were seen to be at a discount of about $20/mt to the March CP.

Asia Pressurized Market

For South China loading, while import costs of refrigerated cargoes were increasing, available cargoes were apparently few for February loading. Discussion levels for February loading were reported to be at a premium of $45-50/mt to the February CP. Meantime, a major Malaysian supplier had higher inventories of propane than butane and apparently requested some players to change propane/butane ratio of cargoes that it would supply. The supplier was said to have changed the ratio of cargoes to supply to one of the above traders into propane-rich cargoes. In Vietnam, buying interest from players with low inventories was anticipated to recover after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays.