A Turkish trader contacted by SSESSMENTS.COM’s team disclosed market feedback on the latest February shipment polypropylene (PP) offers from South Korea to the country. As revealed, the latest import polypropylene (PP) offers from South Korea for February shipment emerged in Turkey at $1,730-1,760/ton for PP Block Copolymer, and $1,870/ton for PP Random Copolymer, respectively on LC at sight, CIF Main Port basis. The trader further informed that the offers for February shipment polypropylene (PP) cargoes from South Korea generally posted a small decrease of below $50/ton, likely owing to the high ocean freight rates to the country. However, buyers are still uninterested in taking the cargoes as they are waiting for the offers at $100/ton lower than the current levels. As for PP Homo Raffia cargoes, the trader has yet to receive offers of South Korea origin at $1,560/ton-level by far. Yet, the trader doubts that offers at such a level would be available since the prices on FOB basis would be only around $1,000/ton amid the high South Korea-Turkey ocean freight rates.
By and large, Turkish buyers are still lining up on the sideline while monitoring the market dynamics. The trader pointed out that buyers in the country are still actively checking up the latest resins prices, but did not place any orders. Therefore, the trader holds a firm belief that the buyers will come back to the market and proceed with new purchases. The buyers will indeed run out of options to secure the cargoes regardless of the high prices due to the shortage of raw materials on their end. “Albeit it is too early to claim that the buying sentiment during January 2022 is better as compared to the end of 2021, yet some improvements are feasible. However, the real impact on the market is yet to be seen thus far. It is better to keep monitoring the market development, as the South Korean suppliers are still mulling over to provide price quotations as attractive as possible,” explained the trader to SSESSMENTS.COM. As for prices, the trader opines that the muted key China market during the Lunar New Year holiday will put some downward pressure on polypropylene (PP) prices.
