Continued Trend In PVC Demand As India Market Braces For Monsoon
- Some sellers implemented price cut in the local market due to poor market responses
- Reduced cargoes availability from one of the Taiwanese PVC producers
- The overall outlook going into Q3 will be stiffened as rainy season kicks in
Demand remains the same trend as last-week in the India PVC market as some areas have already encountered monsoon. A trader informed SSESSMENTS.COM the offer on their end dropped INR1,500-2,500/ton ($19-32/ton) by the end of last week due to dull market responses. Offers for localized South Korea origin cargoes as of June 23 stands at INR71,500/ton ($943/ton) on cash, EXW Delhi and excluding 18% GST, rolled over from the end of last week. Meanwhile, done deals for both Russian and Thailand cargoes recorded at INR70,500/ton ($929/ton). In the import market, the majority of offers for July shipments are up by $100/ton compared to last month, now between $780-800/ton. This week’s deals reported in the form of a jumbo bag at $720/ton and $770/ton respectively. Both cargoes deals came from the Americas region. All import offers on LC at sight, CIF India Main Port basis. Some traders said there are no offers coming from European or US PVC makers as these producers cited that they have sold out their cargoes. However, market players believe the cargoes are sold out to distributors and traders, rather than to converters.
Demand-wise, this week the local Indian market stiffened with the majority deals only coming from the agriculture sector. There are some reasons leading to this situation, the most striking one is due to the COVID-19 with lockdown still in place. The coronavirus situation then led to manufacturers to still run their factories at a low rate, like in New Delhi, as they lack workforce, coupled with incoming monsoon as the traditional low season. Some orders are still coming in from outside metropolitan areas such as Punjab and Uttar Pradesh since last week with market players interested in taking them in response to good demand from end-users and fewer workers problem as the COVID-19 cases are lower than big cities. However, the trader noted customers from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh continue to purchase on a hand-to-mouth basis due to tight cash flow from the customer’s side. Regarding supply, some traders reported that Chennai Port is closed because of extended lockdown, so buyers from that area send their cargoes instead to Nhava Sheva Port and later transported by land. In addition, sources also claimed volume from China General Plastics Corporation (CGPC) was not that much.
Overall, in the month of June market participants cited that the PVC market in India is good, and expected to continue at least until next month. With regards to August shipment offers, market players expressed their opinion that the offers should be stable or lower by $10-30/ton compared to July shipment. A pipe manufacturer mentioned that the end-product demand in the India market started to slow down due to heavy rain in several areas. The market will remain the same from July to August and will begin to improve in September after the rainy season is over.
