A trader informed SSESSMENTS.COM that spot PE, PP offers in China continue to shift further down as triggered by the futures prices. As of March 30, offers for localized HDPE Film and LDPE Film of Middle East origin dropped between CNY100-150/ton ($14-21/ton). Likewise, local LLDPE Film C4 decreased by CNY200/ton ($28/ton). All compared to last Friday’s levels. Currently, the trader is aggressively selling Russian HDPE Injection cargoes. Last Friday, the trader managed to close deals for Russian cargoes at CNY5,500/ton ($775/ton) on cash, EXW China basis and including 13% VAT. However, today, the offers for Russian HDPE Injection cargoes are available in the market at CNY100/ton ($14/ton) lower than last Friday’s deals. In the import market, the trader managed to secure two containers of Middle Eastern HDPE Film cargoes at the initial offer level. Whereas for LLDPE Film C4, the trader is fortunate not to take the cargoes from the Middle Eastern producer. Citing that the current import offers for LLDPE Film C4 have broken below $700/ton-threshold, which will weigh this week’s prices from other producers and traders.
For PP, the offers for local PP Homo Raffia went down by CNY200/ton ($28/ton) compared to last Friday’s level. More added, the trader explained to SSESSMENTS.COM that the materials for coal-based PP Homo Raffia have begun to appear a lot in the market since the plunge in crude oil prices. In the import market, market talks have it that South Korean PP Block Copolymer sold at $750/ton on LC at sight, CIF China Main Port basis, which is quite reasonable, the trader opined.
For the long-term outlook, SSESSMENTS.COM was told that Chinese players, including the trader, need to pay more attention to several things. First, the gap between production cost and offer levels to avoid loss since the current local offers are almost reaching the bottom. Second, Coronavirus outbreak in other countries, which currently causes order cancellations from customers in the export destination countries. And third, after the Coronavirus lockdown, Indian players most likely will sell aggressively to China market as per usual. Hence, the import prices are expected to be on a downtrend at that time. While in the near term, the trader did not see any sign of a rebound in PE and PP prices.
