Indonesia Market Dealing With Shift In PE Prices After Eid Al-Fitr Holiday
- HDPE grades surpassed IDR13,000,000/ton ($917/ton)-level
- Converters not actively dealing with latest offers from producers and traders
- Demand condition casts a shadow on positive pricing outlook
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, PE prices in the Indonesia market moved into the new horizon this week after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday. Leading Indonesian polyolefins announced a price list with HDPE Blow Moulding at IDR13,040,000 ($920/ton) while HDPE Film at IDR12,880,000-13,190,000/ton ($908-931/ton). This price recorded an increase of IDR590,000/ton ($41/ton) on week-on-week comparison. Another PE producer released their price list for HDPE Blow Moulding, HDPE Film, and LLDPE Film C4 at IDR13,800,000/ton ($973/ton) with an upward adjustment of IDR1,100,000/ton ($77/ton) as compared to the previous price list announced on May 11.
Market players pointed out that HDPE all grades offered above IDR13,000,000/ton ($917/ton)-level going into mid-week. Quoted by SSESSMENTS.COM, Indonesia’s largest local trading house is offering HDPE Blow Moulding, HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 at IDR400,000/ton ($28/ton) higher from offers in early this week. For localized cargoes, traders reported that PE cargoes of Thailand origin are available at IDR14,000,000/ton-level ($987/ton) since last week. Competition is quite fierce in localized cargoes with manufacturers still getting offers of localized HDPE Blow Moulding cargoes of Southeast Asia origin at IDR13,000,000/ton-level ($917/ton). All offers are on cash/credit terms, FD Indonesia basis and excluding 10% VAT.
From the import market, a Thai PE producer offered HDPE Film, HDPE Blow Moulding, and LLDPE Film C4 at $800-810/ton, up between $20-25/ton from last week. Meanwhile, for LDPE Film and mLLDPE C6 cargoes, the producer maintained stable offers from last week at $900/ton. All offers on LC at sight, CIF Indonesia Main Port basis.
Upstream players are catching the momentum after the Eid holiday, increasing their offers to find equilibrium while targeting converters with minimum inventory, SSESSMENTS.COM noted. Thought-provoking circumstances arise when from the side of the converter, the majority report that they have secured considerable inventory before price moving up. Most intend to replenish their inventory based on a hand-to-mouth basis to maintain their cash flow, hence no order for bulk volume. Inventory absorption depends on the downstream production rate, reported ranging from 15-100% depending on the end-product orders handled by converters. Domestic demand for single-use plastic bags is still ongoing healthy, with specific sectors such as fisheries and medical put up order numbers. Speaking about the supply side, local producers reported not offering spot cargoes because of a low level of inventory and bound by contracts to the export market. At the same time, many Southeast Asian producers were or shortly would carry out maintenance at PE plants; tight supply beckoned.
Market players voiced out to SSESSMENTS.COM that local and import PE prices would be firm with slight adjustments. Price may increase within a limited range on the back of supply shortage from producers’ ends, coupled with firm monomers and crude oil prices. However, PE prices would stabilize as a shock response from end-users after the price went up too fast would weaken sentiment.
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