One of the big converters in Malaysia contacted by SSESSMENTS.COM showed its resistance toward current import PE price trend. As reported, a lot of foreign producers approaching the company and offering cargoes at higher prices this week. Responding to the offers, the converter is asking for last month's prices, citing sufficient stock from previous purchases when prices were low. The converter also told that their fellow converters are also saddled with high raw materials, enough to cover productions of up to 2-3 months ahead. As such, most of them are not in a hurry to make fresh procurements at the moment.
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, most foreign suppliers set higher prices for June shipment citing the limited supply. Particularly for US cargoes, a producer was offering mLLDPE C6 to Malaysia at $800-820/ton-level, or between $80-100/ton higher from last month. On June 3, another US producer also offered LLDPE Film C4 to Malaysia market at $30/ton higher on biweekly comparison. However, the overall demand has not improved significantly; demand for resins remains subdued owing to slow sales for finished products. As such, some buyers doubted the current uptrend in import prices could sustain as it is only supported by firm crude oil and feedstock prices, while the overall demand has yet to pick up.
