CFR Far East

In the CFR Far East market last week, prices lost in the wake of slackening supply/demand. The Rim Asia Index for propane and butane as of Feb 6 was at $626.50/mt and $616.59/mt respectively, down $4.25/mt from Jan 31. Export ports in the USGC temporarily closed due to heavy fog and sellers refrained from offering in the CFR Far East market as they could not fix the loading dates. However, demand from Chinese players was lower than expected after the New Year holidays and sellers rushed into spot sales. One Taiwanese importer had conducted a buy tender for cargoes for March delivery to Ningbo and March-May delivery to Mailiao, but it cancelled its buy tenders since offer levels were higher than the company's expectations.

FOB Middle East

The March CP was forecast at about $628/mt for propane and about $618/mt for butane. For March loading a deal for a 44,000mt 50:50 cargo was apparently done at a discount of $22-23/mt to the March CP. Sources reckoned that this was the current market level. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) was said to have cancelled its sell tender closed on Feb 6 with validity through the same day for a 44,000mt 75:25 cargo for Feb 28 to Mar 1 loading. On the other hand, some sources perceived that the tender was awarded to a Thai importer. Information was conflicting.

Asia Pressurized Market

For South China loading in March, importers in Vietnam and the Philippines showed slow movements while some traders were apparently looking for spot cargoes. For Southeast Asia loading, Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem) had conducted a sell tender. A Middle East trader was awarded one cargo for loading on Feb 6-7 and a major Malaysian supplier was awarded two cargoes for loading on Feb 10-11 and Feb 14-15. All of these awarded cargoes would be loaded onto vessels of a major Malaysian supplier. For delivery to Vietnam, arrivals of cargoes to be delivered to Haiphong were recently delayed by about five to seven days.