Coronavirus Pandemic Led To Diverse Opinion On PP Market Outlook Among Indonesian Players
- Local PP prices generally moved in the same trend
- Some buyers skipped procurement activity due to sufficient inventory
- Market players voiced out different outlook
SSESSMENTS.COM was informed that the Coronavirus pandemic has led to diverse opinions on the PP market outlook among Indonesian players. For the week commencing June 22, the leading Indonesian polyolefins producer decided to increase the offers for PP Homopolymers between IDR440,000-480,000/ton ($31-34/ton). From the traders’ end, local offers for PP Homo Raffia and PP Homo Injection captured higher between IDR450,000-500,000/ton ($32-35/ton) and IDR500,000/ton ($35/ton) respectively. For local PP Homo Film cargoes, some traders increased offers by IDR200,000/ton ($14/ton) while some trimmed offers by IDR250,000/ton ($18/ton). Meanwhile, offers for localized Southeast Asian PP Homo Film cargoes were recorded stable to increase between IDR160,000-200,000/ton ($11-14/ton). All adjustments on the weekly comparison. From the import market, July shipment offers for Middle Eastern PP Homo Film cargoes standing at $990/ton on LC at sight, CIF Indonesian Main Port basis, increased by $40/ton compared to a fortnight ago. As explained, sources are even unwilling to submit bids and prefer to wait for offers from other suppliers as the offers are deemed too high.
Similar to PP Homopolymers, offers for PP Block Copolymer and PP Random Copolymer Injection from the leading Indonesian polyolefins producer also increased by IDR450,000/ton ($32/ton) and between IDR470,000-480,000/ton ($33-34/ton) respectively, on the weekly comparison. From the import market, SSESSMENTS.COM was informed that the offers for import PP Block Copolymer from a South Korean producer to Indonesia increased by $100/ton compared to last month, available at $950-960/ton on LC at sight, CIF Main Port basis. Sources revealed that deals were achieved at the initial offer level as the producer is unwilling to sell lower.
Compared to last week, the majority of Indonesian market sources highlighted to SSESSMENTS.COM that the demand is gradually improving as more buyers started to place orders in a bigger quantity. However, some buyers decided to skip the procurement activity owing to the sufficient inventory on hand, some are sufficient to cover production needs up to August. For end-products, some converters revealed that their sales remain slow as affected by the pandemic. On the supply side, sources informed that the supply for PP is still relatively tight.
For the outlook, market sources opined to SSESSMENTS.COM that local PP offers will most likely remain firm supported by the strong crude oil and monomer prices. However, there is a possibility for the demand to slow down once buyers finish the replenishment activity. Meanwhile, other sources stated that the market will be difficult to predict due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Although the government already implemented the “new normal”, the number of new COVID-19 cases remains high. As such, market players will have to remain cautious while monitoring market development.
