CFR Far East

In the CFR Far East market last week, prices moved down along with slack supply/demand. As of Dec 18, the Japan Index weakened by $9.00/mt from the previous week to $562.00/mt for propane and $617.00/mt for butane. The China Index also went down to $601.00/mt for propane and $591.00/mt for butane. Several players including Japanese importers and Chinese players looked for spot cargoes. Petrochemical companies in China and Southeast Asia carried out a buy tender, but they cancelled a tender since offers were limited. However, after cancellations of buy tenders, sellers gradually surfaced in the spot market and prices dropped. On a Chiba basis, one South Korean importer sold a pure propane cargo for first-half February delivery to a Chinese trader. One Japanese importer sold a Canadian propane cargo to a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in China.

FOB Middle East

In the Middle East, supply/demand for January loading was tight due to strong buying interest by Indian importers. AGT and SHV, whose were short-balanced, bid 44,000mt 50:50 cargoes for January loading at a level equivalent to a premium of $50/mt to the January CP, but sellers did not appeared. SHV also carried out a buy tender to cover their short positions. However, the tender was cancelled. On the supply side, Saudi Aramco released an acceptance for January loading to their term customers and information was heard that there were some delays but no significant changes. After that, a seller appeared in the market and one Middle Eastern trader affiliated to Saudi Aramco was reported to have bought a 44,000mt 50:50 cargo for January loading at a premium in the $30's/mt to the January CP.

Asia Pressurized Market

For South China loading, sellers remained high offers and buyers were inactive in entering discussions. One refrigerated cargo importer considered selling ideas at a premium of $90/mt to the January CP. In Southeast Asia, one importer in the Philippines was reported to have bought a cargo for January delivery. On supply side, a sell tender issued by Malaysian petrochemical company, Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), that had closed on Dec 17 was reported to have awarded to a North Sea gas producer.