- Increases noted in local, localized PET Bottle offers in January
- Demand during the quarter reportedly slow in general
- PET market predicted to remain bearish due to the Coronavirus pandemic
By the first month of Q1 2020, SSESSMENTS.COM’s data showed that the most significant adjustment for local and localized Taiwan PET Bottle offers captured in the week commencing January 6. The local offers for PET Bottle increased between VND500,000-1,000,000/ton ($21-42/ton) compared to two weeks earlier following the firmer monomer cost. Likewise, offers for localized Taiwan PET Bottle cargoes also increased between VND1,500,000-2,500,000/ton ($63-106/ton) compared to the same period. Moving to February, the offers were kept stable by the first week of the month to gauge the workable offer-level after the Lunar New Year holiday. For the remaining of February, the local offers for PET Bottle captured on a downtrend, with a reduction of between VND200,000-450,000/ton ($8-19/ton) week over week. Throughout March, the offers for local PET Bottle cargoes reduced between $15-30/ton on a weekly comparison.
Import PET Bottle offers to Vietnam showed a mixed trend in January, SSESSMENTS.COM noted. In the first week of January, the offers for import PET Bottle offers of China and Thailand origin increased by $10/ton and $35/ton respectively. However, in the upcoming week, the offers for import PET Bottle of China and Southeast Asia origin dropped by $25/ton and $20/ton respectively following the further reduction in feedstock prices. Contrastingly, a Taiwanese producer increased the offers by $10/ton as the producer expect PET prices would start to increase coupled with tight supply from their end. While in February, import PET Bottle offers of various origins to Vietnam dropped between $20-25/ton on a weekly comparison.
During March, import PET Bottle offers of China, Indonesia, and Thailand origin from a distributor captured moving downward between $15-20/ton on a monthly comparison in the first week of the month. Likewise, the import offers from a South Korean producer also captured lower by $30/ton from a week earlier. Meanwhile, most traders were keeping the offers stable on a weekly comparison for import PET Bottle of China and Taiwan origin. Sources added to SSESSMENTS.COM that the adjustments made in the first week of the month were steered by the slump in crude oil prices as well as growing concern over the increases in Coronavirus cases.
According to market sources report to SSESSMENTS.COM, PET demand in Vietnam was slow during January affected by the slow sales for finished products and the Lunar New Year Holiday. Moving to February, the demand reportedly remained slow due to the sufficient inventory on hand and slow sales for finished products. Moreover, the Coronavirus outbreak deteriorated buying sentiment as buyers preferred to monitor market movement. However, strong demand was recorded for pharmaceutical PET bottles. While in March, the overall buying sentiment was weak due to the growing concern over Coronavirus pandemic, sufficient inventory on hand as well as market uncertainty. However, a slight demand improvement was captured by the final week of March as the offers deemed competitive by the buyers. On the supply front, there were no issues reported in Vietnam during the first quarter of 2020.
For the outlook, the majority of Vietnamese market players expressed an opinion to SSESSMENTS.COM that PET market would remain bearish if the Coronavirus pandemic remains unresolved.
