- Bangladesh was under nationwide lockdown in April, will last on May 5
- Import PE offers and buying ideas appeared, but no deals reported
- Market activities in May will remain slow due to Ramadhan (fasting month)
SSESSMENTS.COM noted that at the first and second week of April, the PE market in Bangladesh was practically on freeze since the government extended the lockdown until April 13. No transactions reported since most downstream factories were also forced to shut operation due to sluggish sales amid lockdown. In the third week of April, a global trading house expressed sell ideas for Middle Eastern cargoes at $850/ton for LDPE Film and $750-780/ton for LLDPE Film C4. Both were on LC at sight, CIF Chittagong Port. Meanwhile, most foreign suppliers withdrew their offers to the country and preferred to sell to the China market due to better netback.
In the fourth week of April, the leading Indian petrochemical producer announced fresh PE offers to Bangladesh. For LDPE Film, the producer offered at $820/ton on LC at sight, CFR Chittagong Port. As for LLDPE Film C4, the producer’s offers were at $720/ton with the same payment and delivery terms. However, most buyers were still reluctant to place orders and were not in a rush to secure materials since the downstream demand was slow and some of it still shut their operations. They opted to wait for lower offers from other suppliers as US crude oil prices were stuck at record lows. In the final week of April, market sources told SSESSMENTS.COM that even though the lockdown was still ongoing, customers were submitting buy ideas for Middle Eastern HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 at $700/ton on LC at sight, CFR Chittagong Port.
Bangladesh PE market was generally muted during April due to Coronavirus lockdown. As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, Bangladesh has been under nationwide lockdown since March 26. Due to lockdown, the number of transactions and inquiries recorded in Bangladesh PE market was limited to zero due to payment issues. As reported, buyers could not open a Letter of Credit (LC) even if the deals concluded, caused by the limited operation of the bank during lockdown. As Bangladesh entered the fourth week of isolation, the government extended the lockdown until May 5. Thus, PE demand continued to drop. Due to restrictions, most local businesses in the region were shut down temporarily. On April 28, Bangladesh reopened more than 500 garment factories across the country with tight safety measures and physical distancing. These factories are a part of more than 4,000 garment factories located in Bangladesh and play a major role in the country's economic growth. Apart from these factories, the restrictions are still ongoing. On the supply front, no issue was reported in the Bangladesh market during the month as trading activities were scarce.
Looking forward into May, Bangladeshi market players opined to SSESSMENTS.COM that they did not expect the domestic PE market will follow the uptrend in the China market in the near term because the country is still under lockdown and production activities usually will be slowing down further during Ramadhan (fasting month), which started at the end of April until the end of May. Import PE prices are also forecasted unamenable throughout the countrywide Coronavirus lockdown period, which was recently extended until May 5, with a further extension remains possible. Some sources opined that demand would continue to shrink as the government heightened measures to curb the spread of the virus.
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