Arlanxeo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, shut its 100,000 tons/year butyl rubber (BR) and 140,000 tons/year polybutadiene (PBR) units on Jurong Island over the past few weeks, market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM. The shutdown forced Singapore butadiene (BD) producers to increase exports as they lost a key domestic outlet for their supplies.
PCS and Shell Chemicals have offered their BD supplies for second-half May loading to potential buyers in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Market participants told SSESSMENTS.COM that they heard Shell had sold 2,000-ton shipment at $310/ton CFR China early this week, but this cannot be confirmed.
Additional supply from Singapore added further weight on Asia-Pacific BD prices, which have been plummeting since mid-March due to an influx of European cargoes. As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, CFR Northeast Asia prices have hit their lowest since at least 2005.
In Europe, cracker operators have been switching to naphtha rather than LPG as a feedstock, as low oil prices drove naphtha prices cheaper. The switch results in higher BD yields at the same time when demand from the automotive industry fell due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hence, European BD suppliers send more cargoes to the Asia-Pacific market. BR and PBR are used to produce tires, soles for shoes, and other consumer products such as basketballs.
