Recent bullishness in feedstock ethanol along with seasonal demand has pulled up ETBE's premium over MTBE.
ETBE was priced at a premium of $185/mt over MTBE, up $20/mt on the day. The average premium in April was $165/mt.
An ETBE trade source said the premium was surprisingly high, describing MTBE as "OK," while other octanes didn't have an outlet to Asia. "Reformate has fairly moderate premiums [to Eurobob]," he said.
Upstream, ethanol was assessed at Eur597/cm FOB Rotterdam Wednesday, a two-month high and an increase of 7.4% since end of last month.
The ethanol prompt market remained supported, with an ethanol trader saying the market was exhibiting some tightness. The backwardation continued, with expectations of increased supply along the curve, and imports arriving into Rotterdam toward mid-year.
"Production margins are wide enough to encourage producers -- there is no reason people shouldn't be running fully," the ethanol trader said.
