Asian benzene rose $3.75/mt day on day Thursday to $1,187.75/mt FOB Korea, shown in red below, as US benzene and crude oil prices ticked up. In Asia trade Thursday, front month ICE Brent crude futures rose $0.20/barrel day on day to $118.36/b at 4:30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT). In the US, benzene climbed $9 to $1,246/mt FOB USG, shown in blue below. "Asian benzene supply for the prompt months is still very tight. Current prices look attractive, but I have no cargoes to sell," a South Korean trader said. The European benzene price, shown in green below, was assessed Wednesday at $1,265/mt CIF ARA.
The FOB Korea toluene marker was assessed at $1,199/mt Thursday, shown in red below, up $3.50/mt from the day before amid a rollover of laycans and slightly higher upstream prices. Without the rollover of laycans, H1 March and H2 March toluene cargoes, which made up the marker the day before, were down $4/mt Thursday. The US toluene price, shown in blue below, were down slightly on Wednesday to $1,228/mt FOB USG, but remained the highest globally. The European toluene price, shown in green below, was assessed Wednesday at $1,183/mt FOB Rdam.
Asian isomer-grade mixed xylenes edged up $4/mt day on day to $1,366/mt FOB Korea, shown in red below, and $1,381/mt CFR Taiwan Thursday despite a weaker downstream market. Downstream paraxylene prices fell $8/mt from Wednesday, causing the PX-MX spread to fall through the $250/mt support level to a six-week low of $245.50/mt Thursday. In the US market, MX prices were unchanged Wednesday at $1,302/mt FOB USG.
Asian paraxylene prices fell $8/mt day on day Thursday to be assessed at $1,626.50/mt CFR Taiwan/China, shown in red below. The market was dragged down by selling pressure throughout the day amid weak downstream purified terephthalic acid prices as well as related futures values. May cotton futures dropped Yuan 440/mt day on day to finish Thursday at Yuan 21,045/mt, while May PTA futures fell Yuan 274/mt over the same period to Yuan 8,852/mt on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange. The Asian polyester fiber chain market was under pressure Thursday after news that China's polyester fiber producers had cut prices Yuan 100-200/mt to clear out high inventories. The news slashed prices of polyester fibers throughout Thursday. In the physical PTA market, the CFR China PTA price fell $17/mt from Wednesday to be assessed at $1,184/mt Thursday. The US paraxylene price, shown in blue below, was assessed Wednesday at $1,575/mt FOB USG. The European price, shown in green below, remained the lowest globally at $1,534/mt FOB Rdam.
The Asian styrene monomer price for H1 April, shown in red below, climbed $8 on Thursday to $1,448/mt FOB Korea. "The Chinese domestic market is getting better and the East China inventory is also reduced," one trader said as reasons why prices were rising. The inventory in the east of China was heard falling 4,900 mt from last week to 143,800 mt this week, but some sources noted this was still a relatively high level, keeping pressure on prices. In production news, Iran's Pars Petrochemical is running its 600,000 mt/year SM plant at Assaluyeh at 80% of capacity following a restart Tuesday, a source close to the company said Thursday. The plant was shut unexpectedly on January 29 due to problems with a utilities provider, the source said, adding that these have since been resolved. The US styrene price, shown in blue below, was assessed at $1,490/mt FOB USG Wednesday. The European price for March, shown in green below, was assessed Wednesday at $1,510/mt FOB Rdam.
