Aromatics

Benzene prices on an FOB Korea basis were firm in the first half of the week but the market softened in the second half of the week along with changes in crude prices. As profitability of derivatives was low, the market was pressured. Paraxylene prices on a CFR Northeast Asia basis moved in a similar way. But as new PTA facilities were scheduled to start up, sellers were expecting a rise in demand and they were showing a bullish attitude.

Gasoline Component

MTBE prices on an FOB China basis were bearish due to perceptions of slack supply/demand. In the China domestic market, supply demand was slack and prices were perceived to be relatively low. For this reason, sellers were not aggressive for sales in the domestic market. But demand for export was also dull. Under this situation, 40,000mt loading from China in September was traded at $625/mt on an FOB basis for delivery to Chile.

Olefins

Ethylene prices on a CFR Northeast Asia basis strengthened on perceptions of tight supply. Ethylene makers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan continued production cuts. Further, two companies in South Korea were scheduled to conduct maintenance of naphtha crackers from October. As for facilities, a fire broke out at Aster Chemicals and Energy's naphtha cracker in Singapore during turnaround. The company declared force majeure after that.

In the Asia propylene market, buying interest strengthened since China domestic prices were firm.

In the Northeast Asia market, as maintenance of propane dehydrogenation facilities was taking place one after another in China, prices were firm. Along with this, buying interest from Chinese end-users strengthened.

In South Korea, YNCC was planning to raise operation rates of its naphtha crackers in September.

In Southeast Asia, as for Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem)'s two residue fluid catalytic crackers (RFCC), feedstock was injected into the No.1 facility on Aug 27. The No.2 facility was said to continue operating.

In the Asia butadiene market, a US cargo was reportedly traded for delivery to Northeast Asia. Apart from this, some Southeast Asian cargoes were apparently brought to Northeast Asia. As such cargoes were supplied as term cargoes, spot trade was not seen. In the China domestic market, maintenance of butadiene facilities would take place one after another from the second half of August onwards. Therefore, supply was expected to tighten.

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