A global trading house shared with SSESSMENTS.COM on the current demand conditions in the Southeast Asia PVC market. According to the trader, PVC demand in Malaysia is improving each week, especially for compounding sector as converters for this sector are mostly running at 50-60% from the normal rate. Likewise, demand from the construction sector also started to improve, even though at a slow pace. While in Vietnam, PVC demand cannot be categorized as strong yet and will remain the same in July. The trader opined that PVC demand in Vietnam will start to drop significantly in August following the traditional pattern.
As for Indonesia, improvement in PVC demand in the domestic market was seen as converters started to replenish materials. Due to this, currently, the leading Indonesian PVC producer prioritizing local market and had postponed shipment to export market. Further explained to SSESSMENTS.COM, the producer postponed at least 30% of June shipment orders to the Southeast Asia market to July. In terms of prices, this week, the trader does not have any fresh PVC offers as all offers have been closed. However, market talks have it that a South Korean producer is offering ethylene-based PVC to Malaysia at $760/ton on LC at sight, CIF Malaysia basis in an attempt to lure buyers. For August shipment, the trader opined that the leading Taiwanese PVC producer would announce offers in the middle of July. Considering the production costs, the leading Taiwanese PVC producer’s offers will most likely be firm. However, the trader is personally expecting a rollover citing that buyers will show resistance towards higher PVC prices as demand in several sectors is still slow.
