June posted contract prices for North American methanol will likely come stable to slightly higher, with spot pricing remaining mostly steady over the last month, market sources said Monday.
Contract expectations trended toward the lower side, with most expecting contracts to be flat to May. If contracts do rise, it would likely be an increase of 2-3 cents, a trader said.
"There is very little to justify an increase," another source said.
May posted contract prices from Methanex and Southern Chemical Corp. came out at 75 cents/gal ($250.50/mt) FOB USG. Methanex ranks as the world's largest methanol producer by capacity, and SCC serves as the US distributor for major producer Methanol Holdings Trinidad.
Producers might seek increases for June pricing as negotiations for third-quarter contract prices in Europe approach, a distributor said.
"If the trend is up, producers would want to push an increase in the US ahead of Q3 negotiations," the source said
Posted contract price announcements typically come in the final week of the preceding month.
US spot methanol pricing has remained in the low to mid-60s cents/gal FOB USG since the previous contract announcement on April 29, assessed that day at 63.50 cents/gal FOB USG.
US spot methanol was assessed Monday by S&P Global Platts at 63.25-63.75 cents/gal FOB USG for May and June, flat from the previous contract announcement date. The spot discount to the average posted contract price stood at 11.50 cents, below the year-to-date average of 22.28 cents, according to Platts data.
