The significant increase in crude oil futures late last week supported benzene prices in Asia, market sources told SSESSMENTS.COM. However, the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on demand, adding uncertainty to the outlook.
On April 2, Brent futures were up by nearly 46% to $36.29/barrel, while US WTI crude futures soared by about 35% to $27.39/barrel. These big increases were driven by hopes that major oil producers would cut output to prevent prices from collapsing further. As SSESSMENTS.COM assessed, Asia benzene quickly followed the increase, with spot prices rising to above $280/ton FOB Korea on April 7, from below $250/ton at the beginning of the month.
Despite the increase in spot prices, the outlook for benzene remains unclear due to demand destruction amid the lockdown across the world’s major economies. Demand in downstream styrene monomer, caprolactam, phenol, and adipic acid showed little improvement due to weak consumption of finished goods, especially in the US and Europe.
