Sellers Gain Momentum To Adjust PE Offers In Indonesia Amid Supply Issue
- Leading Indonesian polyolefins producer announced price list twice this week
- Overall PE demand in Indonesia remains stable from last week
- PE prices still have room to increase in the upcoming weeks
As informed to SSESSMENTS.COM, sellers gain momentum to adjust PE offers in Indonesia amid supply issue. On the week commencing June 29, local and import PE offers in the Indonesia market captured on an uptrend. Within this week, the leading Indonesian polyolefins producer announced the price list twice. On June 29, the producer decided to maintain stable offers for PE cargoes across all grades from last week’s price list. Two days later, on July 1, the producer announced a second price list and applied price increase for PE offers between IDR280,000-290,000/ton ($19-20/ton) compared to price list issued on June 29. While another local producer also announced the fresh price list for PE cargoes this week. Compared to the price list on June 2, PE offers from the producer moved up between IDR700,000-900,000/ton ($49-62/ton). From the traders’ end, following the supply shortage in the domestic market, a trader increased HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 offers by IDR700,000/ton ($49/ton) and IDR900,000/ton ($62/ton), respectively compared to last week. Likewise, offers for local and localized PE cargoes across all grades via the largest local trading house in Indonesia surged between IDR200,000-1,300,000/ton ($14-90/ton) compared to last week on the back of limited supply from the trader’s end.
In the import market, compared to June shipment, July shipment offers for HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 from a Kuwaiti PE producer increased by $100/ton. Deals for HDPE Film concluded at the same level to the initial offers as no room for negotiation provided. While deals for LLDPE Film C4 concluded at $10/ton lower than the initial offer level. For US cargoes, a trader sold US HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 at $900/ton with the shipment from Port Klang, Malaysia. While for US mLLDPE C6, the offers stood at $1,200/ton with the shipment also from Port Klang, Malaysia. As for Thai cargoes, a trader stated to SSESSMENTS.COM that July shipment allocation from a Thai producer has been sold out since last week and is currently offering for August shipment for HDPE Film and LLDPE Film C4 at $910-920/ton. All import offers are on LC at sight, CIF Indonesia Main Port basis.
Despite a slight drop in market sentiment due to the concern over the second wave of the Coronavirus, overall PE demand in Indonesia remains stable from last week. Demand for LLDPE Film C4 is still ongoing as buyers currently panic to secure this material due to the limited supply in the domestic market. Some converters mentioned to SSESSMENTS.COM that finished product demand remains slow for woven bag packaging. However, demand from the export market has started to pick up this week as orders started coming from several countries amid the pandemic issue. Regarding the banning of single-use plastic bags in Jakarta, so far, no significant impact on the market. But market players still anticipate lower demand due to the regulation. On the production side, Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) has restarted its LLDPE plant with a capacity of 400,000 tons/year on July 1 after previously experiencing an outage on June 22.
For the outlook, some players opined that local PE prices should be stable next week as demand for the finished product is still not strong yet. While the rest believe that both local and import PE prices still have room to increase in the upcoming weeks on the back of limited supply coupled with firm feedstock prices, as stated to SSESSMENTS.COM.
