Methanex is raising its North American posted methanol contract price by 7 cents for November compared with October to 156 cents/gal ($519/mt) FOB USG, the world's largest methanol producer by capacity said on its website.
The increase is in line with market expectations that called for contract prices to increase following a rise in spot prices in the middle of October.
Market participants could not pinpoint the reason behind the recent rise in prices, though sources said an unconfirmed recent production outage in Trinidad and Tobago could be underpinning the more bullish tone, as well as operational issues in New Zealand and logistical Rhine river issues in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area.
On Thursday, US methanol producer Southern Chemical Corp. said it would raise its North American posted contract price by 5 cents in November to 153 cents/gal ($509/mt) FOB USG.
With discounts and rebates averaging 15%, the net contract price for November comes to 130.05-132.60 cents/gal.
In the spot market, S&P Global Platts assessed US methanol Friday at 124.75-125.25 cents/gal FOB USG for October and November.
