- Local and import PET offers moved on a diverse movement during May
- Domestic PET demand showed an improvement in the third week of May
- Market players voiced out different market outlook on the back of various factors
Started on the week commencing May 4, local PET Bottle offers in the Vietnam market were on a downtrend due to lack of demand support. As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, the offers surfaced with a downward adjustment of VND700,000-1,000,000/ton ($30-43/ton). In the US Dollar denomination, local PET Bottle offers were captured at $15/ton lower. All on a weekly comparison. At that time, some deals were concluded at VND1,000,000/ton ($43/ton) lower from their previous deals concluded on April 28. Moving to the second week, offers from several local PET producers were stable to decrease between VND200,000-300,000/ton ($8-13/ton) on a weekly comparison. Following suit, some traders also lowered their offers between VND300,000-500,000/ton ($13-21/ton) on a fortnight comparison. During that time, local PET Bottle offers were mostly hovering near record lows of VND18,000,000/ton-level.
However, on the week commencing May 18, Vietnam’s domestic PET prices gained some strength, buoyed by rising crude oil and monomer prices. In this particular week, most local PET Bottle offers bounced back to above VND19,000,000/ton-level. Some buyers received local PET Bottle offers via a trader at VND19,400,00/ton ($831/ton) on cash, FD Ho Chi Minh basis and including 10% VAT, or at VND400,000/ton ($17/ton) higher than the offer level available a week earlier. For purchasing volume of 63 tons, a converter managed to secure a deal for the same origin cargoes at VND400,000/ton ($17/ton) lower than the initial offer level in the previous week. Following the last week of May, the uptrend sustained as crude oil and feedstock prices remained firm, SSESSMENTS.COM noted. Some traders were offering local PET Bottle at VND19,000,000/ton ($814/ton), higher by VND800,000/ton ($34/ton) as compared to done deals a week earlier. Likewise, a local producer in the country has increased the offers between VND300,000-500,000/ton ($13-21/ton) from a week earlier.
In the import market, the prices were mostly recorded stable to firmer during May. For Chinese cargoes, import PET offers were hiked between $5-15/ton week over week, in the first half of May but remained stable in the second half of the month. Some traders pointed out that the uptrend was in-line with the higher monomer prices. Meanwhile, import PET offers of Thailand and Indonesia origin were stable for three consecutive weeks, but increased by $20/ton and $10-20/ton, respectively, in the last week of May. For Taiwanese cargoes, the offers surfaced with an increment of between $15-20/ton in the first week of May and then raised further by $50/ton in the following week. All price changes were on a weekly comparison. On the week commencing May 4, some deals for Taiwanese PET Bottle were concluded at $10/ton lower than the initial offer levels, SSESSMENTS.COM noted. In the month of May, export PET Bottle offers were also reported coming from a recently start-up Vietnamese PET producer. The producer’s offers ranged between $640-690/ton on LC at sight, FOB Ho Chi Minh basis. However, the customers who received the offers were not confident in taking the cargoes since most of them were unsure of its quality.
In general, the Vietnam PET market remains bearish and showed no improvement in the first half of May although the social isolation guidelines have been lifted since April 22, with the exception for some high-risk areas. On the week commencing May 4, a number of suppliers were aggressively selling their cargoes as demand was constantly weakening week over week. However, most converters had sufficient stocks and end-product sales recorded subdued at the moment, hence, they were not keen on making procurement. In the week after, the rebound in crude oil prices coupled with the gradual lifting of the lockdown were also unable to boost buying sentiment as most buyers remain concerned about the negative outlook on economic growth and slow demand for finished products. Fortunately, on the week starting May 18, market sentiment and domestic demand started to turn around from the prior week as crude oil prices have been rallying significantly. At that moment, buyers were willing to purchase large volumes of materials on the back of concern on further price increase following firmer crude oil and monomer prices, as well as better demand for end-products sales. Moving to the last week, most sellers commented that domestic demand was relatively stable from the previous week’s state. On the plant news, on the week commencing May 11, Vietnam’s Paihong Co., Ltd reportedly still not operating at full production rate, only at 60%. Market sources said the producer has yet to grasp market share as the company is a newcomer. In addition, the parent company has minimal experience in producing PET bottle resins, therefore, stability in production is expected to take time.
Looking into June, Vietnamese market players contacted by SSESSMENTS.COM expressed a different outlook. Some players opined that the rainy season and the Coronavirus outbreak in the international market will affect sales for PET finished products. However, some others shared an optimistic outlook since crude oil prices have rebounded and the overall demand is gradually improving.
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