A local converter in Malaysia revealed to SSESSMENTS.COM on the latest domestic and import offers along with current demand conditions in the country. This week, the converter received local and import offers at a slightly lower level compared to last week. In the domestic market, local PET offers are slightly lower by MYR50/ton ($11.6/ton) at the high end of the price range, while the low end of the price range remains stable. From the import market, the converter mentioned that at the end of last week, a Chinese supplier trimmed their PET Bottle offers slightly by $5/ton. This week, the supplier applied another round of downward price adjustment by a similar amount. Current offers are available between $705-710/ton on LC at sight, CIF Malaysia Main Port basis. All offers are on the weekly comparison.
Demand-wise, sales from the company’s end in the domestic and export destination countries remain sluggish over the week. Sales in the export market are not yet strengthening as affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. The spread of the lethal virus continues to cause a huge drop in demand for end-products in both markets. For the last couple of weeks, the converter saw a significant increase in demand for finished products; thus, keeping their production rates at a higher level between 80-100%. However, as demand started to turn tepid, the company plans to lower the production rate by next week to match current demand and to take a halt on procurement activities temporarily, SSESSMENTS.COM was informed.
For the pricing outlook, the converter said that most suppliers dropped hints at a further price increase every week. In fact, there was no room for prices to increase and the price remained stuck at a certain level. The converter commented on these issues, saying, “It seems that the suppliers are attempting to hype up the market sentiment by hinting a price increase. However, most of them ended up keeping the price stable or even slightly decreased offers due to unsupportive demand.”
