US orthoxylene contracts are likely to move lower in February, market sources said, with some expectations of a 1 cent/lb decrease.
Sellers entered negotiations offering a decrease of 0.5-1 cent/lb, while large buyers were asking for a 1-2 cents/lb drop, a source said.
January OX contracts rolled over at 60 cents/lb for the third consecutive month, the first time the price went unchanged for three straight months since November 2011-January 2012, according to Platts data.
"We had been thinking that OX would settle down 2 cents/lb, but with the recent uptick in MX (mixed xylene), it's looking more like down 1 cent/lb," a source said.
The US spot price for feedstock MX was assessed Thursday at $3.65/gal FOB USG. The February contract price for US mixed xylene settled 11 cents lower on Wednesday at $3.59/gallon ($1,087.77/mt), a steeper decline than some market participants were expecting.
Sources said the US mixed xylene market has been pressured by slower demand in downstream markets globally.
