China Engineering Thermoplastics February/March 2013: Feedstock prices head down post-Chinese new year/ Producers plan to hike ABS prices / PC notations also rising / Little movement for polyamides, PBT and POM

摘要

Aside from a few exceptions, feedstock prices fell once the Chinese New Year celebrations came to an end. Yet, this low-price phase may prove short-lived, as a number of Asian plants are scheduled to undergo maintenance turnarounds in March and April, including those run by Lotte Group (Seoul / South Korea; www.lotte.co.kr) and LG Chem (Seoul / South Korea; www.lgchem.com). Traders therefore widely expect benzene prices to rebound to USD 1,395/t in the coming weeks, although some downstream processors are also resorting to using LNG as a feedstock to mitigate their costs. Domestic production ran at normal levels, and changed hands at RMB 10,600/t (USD 1,704/t) ex works incl. VAT at the beginning of the period under review, receding moderately to end up at RMB 10,300/t (USD 1,656/t) on 8 March.