Market participants pegged the August US Gulf Coast spot benzene price Thursday morning at 387 cents/gal FOB USG, down 17 cents/gal from Wednesday's Platts assessment of 404 cents/gal FOB USG for August, on a plunging NYMEX energy complex.
August offers opened the day Thursday at 408 cents/gal DDP USG and moved down to 400 cents/gal DDP USG by 10:45 AM CDT. August bids were absent at the start of the day, but then appeared at 375 cents/gal DDP USG by mid-morning. There were no trades reported.
FOB bids or offers were absent and sources said DDP prices are generally priced at a 1-2 cents/gal premium to FOB prices.
September NYMEX crude futures had fallen $3.92/barrel to $83.66/barrel by 10:45 AM CDT, while September NYMEX RBOB futures dropped 8.75 cents/gal to 278.28 cents/gal.
Several sources felt bids would retreat further in the day if NYMEX energy continued to depress.
A producer said, "No wants to buy," adding, "people are not eager to sell down as energy could be a one-day wonder."
However, based on Thursday's mid-morning pegs, the benzene-to-crude ratio was at 1.942, up slightly from Wednesday's ratio of 1.9386. Sources have indicated that a ratio of 1.65 is considered as an appropriate indicator of benzene's strength in price in relation to crude oil.
