- July shipment offers to Vietnam surfaced with adjustments up to $100/ton
- PVC demand started to slow down in the second half of June
- Room for local PVC prices to increase further is limited without support from demand
Local PVC prices in the Vietnam market captured were on an uptrend throughout June. On June 1, a Vietnamese PVC producer announced June delivery offers with an increment of VND1,000,000/ton ($43/ton) compared to May. Meanwhile, another Vietnamese PVC producer mentioned that the company has sold out all allocation for June delivery at the same level to the initial offers between VND17,500,000-17,600,000/ton ($752-756/ton) on cash, FD Vietnam basis and excluding 10% VAT in the first week of June. In the following week, ethylene-based PVC offers from traders’ end were between VND600,000-1,000,000/ton ($26-43/ton) higher compared to the producer’s offers available a fortnight earlier. On June 22, SSESSMENTS.COM noted that following high VCM cost and international trend, a local producer applied hefty adjustments for July delivery offers between VND2,200,000-2,300,000/ton ($94-99/ton) compared to June delivery. The producer managed to sell all allocation at the same level to the initial offers for regular volume and between VND100,000-200,000/ton ($4-9/ton) lower than the initial offers for a big volume of purchases, or at VND19,100,000-19,800,000/ton ($820-850/ton) on cash, FD Vietnam basis and excluding 10% VAT. Further explained, the producer sold all allocation owing to backlogs from the last few months and not because of strong demand in the domestic market.
In the import market, fresh import PVC offers were scarce in the first week of June as market players were waiting for fresh offers to be announced after the 10th of the month. On the week commencing June 8, July shipment offers for US ethylene-based PVC cargoes surfaced with an increase of $80/ton compared June shipment. In the following week, market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM that deals for import PVC cargoes of US origin were concluded at $30/ton lower than the initial offers at $750/ton. Similarly, July shipment offers for PVC cargoes of Japan origin captured at $100/ton higher than June shipment with deals concluded at the same level to the initial offers at $780/ton. Nearing the end of June, market players mentioned that import PVC offers to Vietnam started to show signs of a downtrend as buyers resisted high offer levels. All import offers were on LC at sight, CIF Vietnam Main Port basis.
PVC demand in Vietnam was healthy in the first half of June and started to slow down in the second half of the month. In the first week of June, sales at a local producer reported satisfactory as most buyers preferred to purchase local materials. Some traders were trying to replenish materials in anticipation of higher prices. Moreover, the rainy season has not yet hampered demand for PVC. However, as the rainy season intensifies, on the week commencing June 15, PVC demand in Vietnam showed signs of cooling down. Some buyers reduced PVC purchasing volume due to slow finished product demand and high offers. On the supply side, there were no significant issues reported to SSESSMENTS.COM during June. In the production sector, market talks have it that TPC Vina Plastic and Chemical Corporation Limited will conduct maintenance shutdown at the company’s PVC plant for two weeks in July. However, there was no confirmation and further details from the producer yet.
Entering July, Vietnamese market players believe that PVC demand will be slower as July is the traditional lean season for the PVC market in Vietnam. As such, without supportive demand, the room for local PVC prices to increase further is limited. While August shipment offers from the Southeast Asian PVC producers to Vietnam expected to decrease between $20-30/ton, as stated to SSESSMENTS.COM.
