Purified terephthalic acid margins in Asia hit a 2 1/2-month high Thursday as feedstock paraxylene continued to fall in tandem with bearish upstream crude and naphtha markets, Platts data showed.
On Thursday, Asian PTA margin was assessed at minus $65.53/mt, the highest level seen since July 11, when it was minus $68.41/mt.
PTA production margins had been narrowing for a while, plunging to minus $117.03/mt on September 12, the lowest level seen since Platts started daily assessments in 2008, on rising PX prices. Asian PX was assessed at $1,613/mt CFR Taiwan/China September 12 as traders bought spot PX expecting supplies to become tight following the startup of new PTA plants in China.
But, weaker crude and naphtha pushed down PX prices to $1,482/mt CFR Taiwan/China Thursday, down 8.1% from September 12. CFR Japan naphtha was assessed at $947.50/mt Thursday, down 5.7% from the September 12 price.
Meanwhile, though the price of PTA started trending downward following the startup of Jiaxing Petrochemical's 1.5 million mt/year PTA plant at the end of August and Heng Li's 2.2 million mt/year plant early September, it did not fall as steeply as market participants had expected.
PTA was assessed at $1,070/mt CFR China Thursday, slipping just 1.47% from September 12, finding support from firm demand in China, as the country builds up inventories before the week-long national holiday that begins October 1.
