China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, cut its ex-works prices for butadiene in the eastern and southern provinces for a second time in September, by Yuan 1,000/mt (157/mt), or nearly 4%, to Yuan 26,000/mt, effective Wednesday, traders said.
In East China, Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical and Zhenhai Refining & Chemical lowered their ex-works butadiene prices to Yuan 26,000/mt, or about $3,410/mt on an import parity basis, down from Yuan 27,000/mt on September 14.
Similarly, in South China, Guangzhou Petrochemical and Maoming Petrochemical are both offering butadiene at Yuan 26,000/mt.
A trader cited poor local demand, concerns about growing inventory and returning supply as factors behind the price reduction.
BASF Yangzi Petrochemical Company, or BASF-YPC, plans to start up a new butadiene extraction unit at Nanjing, Jiangsu province, over the second half of September. The unit can make 130,000 mt/year of butadiene.
At the end of September, PetroChina's Dushanzi Petrochemical plans to restart its 130,000 mt/year butadiene unit after it completes a 45-day turnaround which began on August 12.
In Taiwan, Formosa Petrochemical is expected to restart its No. 1 steam cracker -- which can make 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene -- in the second half of September. The cracker supports a 109,000 mt/year butadiene unit.
