CFR Far East

In the CFR Far East market last week, prices softened in the wake of increasing supply. The Rim Asia Index for propane and butane as of Feb 27 was at $611.25/mt and $601.25/mt respectively, down $3.50/mt from Feb 21. Due to foggy weather, the delivery of US-origin cargoes to the Far East was delayed. However, sellers having pure propane cargoes for April delivery increased in the market. On the demand side, buying interest was firm. One Japanese importer bought a 23,000mt propane cargo for first-half April delivery and two operators of propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in China procured full propane cargoes for April delivery. These prices were reported at a premium in the low-mid $10's/mt to April CFR Far East quotations (equivalent to $607/mt or a premium of $8/mt to the April CP as of Feb 27).

FOB Middle East

The March CP was set at $615/mt for propane and $605/mt for butane. Some sources pointed out that Saudi Aramco might have set the March CP above market forecasts since demand in the Far East was firm and trader also showed buying interest on an FOB basis. On the other hand, spot discussions were gradually shifting to April loading. Bids for April loading were heard at a discount of $20-30/mt to the April CP while offers were reported at a single-digit discount to the April CP.

Asia Pressurized Market

For Southeast Asia loading, a Malaysian petrochemical company, Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical(PRefChem), closed a sell tender for 2,500mt LPG cargo for Mar 1-2 loading from Pengerang, Malaysia on Thursday. One importer from Asia had submitted bids at a premium of $5/mt to the March CP on a delivery basis but failed to have won. Views were heard that the awarded price might be close to the bid, but details of the results were unclear. The importer from Asia still had room to buy and was seeking available cargoes.