The European contract price for the first quarter of 2018 has been initially settled at Eur380/mt ($450/mt), up Eur62/mt from the current quarter, according to several sources.
The European CP announcement, which follows the recent surge in spot prices, has, unusually, come ahead of Methanex's CP posting. Typically Methanex posts its quarterly CP for Europe ahead of the EU CP.
Spot prices moved above the prevailing contract price last week for the first time since March.
The current Q4 EU CP is at Eur318/mt.
Asian spot methanol prices have been pushing European and US spot markets higher as their search for material has left the Atlantic basin short of molecules.
Asian markets were assessed another $5/mt higher on the day to $417/mt CFR China.
US markets gained by another 1 cent/gal on Tuesday to 121 cents/gal ($403/mt) FOB USG while European markets were last assessed Eur7/mt higher to Eur332.50/mt FOB Rotterdam Tuesday.
