Paraxylene derivatives instruments settled on the Singapore Exchange, or SGX, recorded a new daily open interest high of 962,500 mt on October 19, SGX data showed. Petrochemical derivatives instruments settled on the SGX in 2018 has so far reached a cleared volume of 4.1 million mt as of October 19.
Paraxylene and benzene, which settle off the Platts CFR Taiwan/China assessments and the Platts FOB Korea assessments respectively, accounted for a combined 95.6% of the total volume. Monoethylene glycol and styrene, which settle off ICIS' assessments, make up the balance.
Volumes traded in the PX market thus far in 2018 stand at 3.2 million mt, with October alone recording 462,500 mt as of October 19, the second highest since the launch of the instrument in December 2014, behind August 2018's record high volume of 894,000 mt.
Since August, the spike in the trading volume has coincided with huge volatility in the physical PX market. The bullishness in the physical PX market for most of September was driven mainly by tight fundamentals owing to production issues across Asia, which had led to tight supply.
"Another factor is that with healthy PTA margins for most of the third quarter, all the PTA producers were running PTA plants at full capacity before the long holidays in China and hence PX inventories have also been depleting," a trader said.
The PX CFR Taiwan/China marker was assessed at its highest level in four years on September 13 at $1,371.50/mt, but prices have since retreated due to falling polyester margins.
The PX CFR Taiwan/China marker edged $0.42/mt higher from Friday, to be assessed at $1,258.75/mt CFR Taiwan/China Monday, while the benzene FOB Korea marker was assessed at $807.67/mt.
