Southeast Asia PET Market Remained Dull Despite Price Movement
- Pricing movement in Thailand is affected by end-product demand along with international prices
- Local demand slightly improved
- Local PET prices predicted to be stable until July
Southeast Asia PET market remained dull this week despite the price movement. Market players in Thailand informed to SSESSMENTS.COM that local PET Bottle offers stood at THB23,500-24,000/ton ($754-770/ton) this week, captured stable on high-end while down by THB500/ton ($16/ton) on low-end level of the price range available last week. Meanwhile, localized cargoes from China offered at THB24,000/ton ($770/ton) due to stronger Baht against the US Dollar. As the international prices remain firm, one of the traders opined that sellers would not be willing to sell cargoes below THB23,500/ton ($754/ton) even though the end-product demand remained sluggish. A Malaysian converter mentioned that local offers were stable at MYR3,180-3,250/ton ($742-759/ton). From the import market, Chinese suppliers offer PET cargoes between $680-720/ton to Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, but no single deal concluded yet. All local/localized offers were on cash, FD basis and excluding VAT, while import offers were on LC at sight, CIF Main Port basis. Detailed information for Indonesia and Vietnam market is available in WeeklySSESSMENTS of the respective countries.
Demand-wise, the responses toward PET offer in Thailand is better than last week with traders reporting that some customers are finally taking small-to-medium volume at initial offer levels, while Malaysian buyers prefer local cargoes over imports. Meanwhile, as the monsoon intensified, the demand for finished products is significantly slowing down which affected converters’ digestion rate and production rate, particularly in Malaysia and the Philippines. SSESSMENTS.COM noted that the rainy season is the traditional downtime for the Southeast Asia market, but the condition this year is worse as customers’ purchasing power is weaker due to the coronavirus pandemic. No issue in supply was reported by market players this week.
For outlook, local PET prices in Southeast Asia predicted to be stable at the current levels until the end of the month taking into account the limited fluctuations in international prices, coupled with firm feedstocks and crude oil prices. However, demand for end-products may remain low until Q3, as told to SSESSMENTS.COM.
