- Local PET Bottle offers showed a diverse movement during April
- The domestic market has slowed down due to the 15-day partial lockdown
- Rumour has it that Vietnam’s Paihong has brought PET plant on-stream
Throughout April, SSESSMENTS.COM’s data showed that local offers for PET Bottle within the Vietnam market recorded a diverse movement. In early April, some traders applied an increase of between $15-20/ton on local PET Bottle offers in USD-denomination. At that time, the offers were available at $750/ton on cash, FD Vietnam basis, excluding 10% VAT with deals concluded at the initial offer level. On the week commencing April 13, local PET Bottle prices were captured stable to decrease by VND200,000/ton ($8/ton). For the rest of the month, local PET Bottle offers continue on a downtrend with a total decrease of between VND300,000-500,000/ton ($12-21/ton). All price changes were on a weekly comparison.
In the import market, the first week of April, a distributor initiated a price reduction of $20/ton for China origin cargoes and $35/ton for Indonesia and Thailand origin cargoes on a weekly comparison. Responding to the offers, some bids submitted at between $40-45/ton lower than the initial offer level, or at $650/ton on LC at sight, CIF Vietnam Main Port basis but rejected by the distributor as the company was running out of stock. Contrastingly, another supplier adjusted up import offers for Chinese and South Korean cargoes by $15-20/ton from a week earlier. On the week commencing April 13, offers for PET Bottle of Thailand and Indonesia origins increased by $10/ton while from China hiked by $20/ton. Similarly, offers from Taiwan were adjusted up by $10/ton. Deals for Thai PET were concluded between $10-15/ton lower than the initial offer levels, SSESSMENTS.COM noted.
Moving to the week commencing April 20, import offers for PET Bottle of Indonesia origin were adjusted twice in a day interval. On Friday morning, April 24, Indonesian PET cargoes captured at $10/ton lower from a week ago, however, the offers were reduced further by $20/ton in the afternoon. For China and Thailand origin, the offers dropped by $5/ton and $10/ton, respectively, from last week. Shortly after, the trader stated to SSESSMENTS.COM that the company was out of stock for Chinese PET Bottle cargoes as quite a number of allocation has been sold out in China. In late April, offers from Thailand and Indonesia were stable to decrease by $5/ton. In contrast, offers for PET Bottle from China increased by $10/ton. All compared to last week’s level. Meanwhile, a Taiwanese PET producer decided to skip offering because the Vietnam market was inactive due to the Reunification Day and International Labor Day holiday.
Early in the month, the domestic PET market started to slow down due to the 15-day partial lockdown in the country. However, during the isolation period, most downstream factories in Vietnam were still allowed to operate, some of them who had gained green light from the government to operate were running production at 80% from the normal capacity. In mid-April, the demand for end-product has slightly improved. SSESSMENTS.COM was told that the demand was captured between 5-10% higher than the previous week because the Coronavirus cases in the Southern part of the country were decreasing. Strolling to the end of April, demand for plastic bottles was slightly improving as the social distancing order loosen up and some customers start procurement activities again. As of April 22, the Vietnamese government lifted the nationwide lockdown and allowed some business and other activities to resume, except Hanoi, Bac Ninh Province, Ha Giang Province, and Ho Chi Minh will remain under some restrictions. On the plant news, market talks have it that Vietnam’s Paihong has brought on stream the company’s new PET plant with a capacity of 200,000 tons/year in April. According to the rumor, by April 18, the producer has started production at 60% of the production rate.
Looking ahead, some players opined to SSESSMENTS.COM that the market activities in several regions that are still under social restriction will likely remain muted in the upcoming month. Some converters mentioned that their company still did not obtain permission from the government to resume operation. At the same time, some players hope that end product demand could improve, leading to better PET demand. In terms of prices, room for PET prices to decrease further remain open considering the uncertainties in the market.
Click below to view related stories and content on the Vietnam PET market:
WeeklySSESSMENTS: Vietnam PET Prices W/C April 6
WeeklySSESSMENTS: Vietnam PET Prices W/C April 13
