Hefty Adjustments Made By Foreign PVC Suppliers Received Cold Shoulder From Southeast Asian Buyers
- Import PVC offers stride in a remarkable movement
- Demand for domestic and import cargoes showed different performance
- Price trend in import market expected to persist taking into account feedstock prices
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, hefty adjustments made by foreign PVC suppliers received a cold shoulder from the majority of Southeast Asian buyers. From a Japanese PVC producer, offers for July shipment to the region surged by $100/ton. For the Singapore market, July shipment offers from a Thai PVC producer were hiked by $120/ton, while offers from the US surfaced with an upturn of $130-140/ton. Similarly, the leading Indonesian PVC producer also initiated notable increment on offers to Malaysia as much as $80-90/ton. All price changes were on a monthly comparison. In the local market, a Philippines PVC producer has announced June delivery offers at PHP8,000/ton ($159/ton) lower than March delivery offers. In Thailand, June delivery offers from local producers went up by THB1,500/ton ($48/ton) as compared to May delivery. Detailed information for Vietnam and Indonesia market is available in WeeklySSESSMENTS of respective countries.
In general, demand for local materials is quite good in contrast with imports. Most import cargoes that emerged with significant increases made Southeast Asian buyers retreated to the sidelines and decided to skip purchases. In Thailand, buyers are reluctant toward high import prices on the back of market uncertainties, hence, local materials are preferable at the moment. In the Philippines, demand from the local producer’s end is quite dandy as buyers have started to replenish their stocks after a nearly three-month period of isolation. Whilst in Malaysia, buying sentiment is rather bearish as buyers only procuring on an as-needed basis due to weak demand for finished products. On the supply side, some Thai converters told SSESSMENTS.COM that two local producers reportedly have limited supply due to production and drought issues.
For the outlook, Southeast Asian market players contacted by SSESSMENTS.COM believe that import PVC prices will remain on an upward trend as supported by the firm feedstock prices. In terms of demand, Thai market players opined that the domestic market will soon be affected by the rainy season since it is already kicking-in in Bangkok. Meanwhile, Malaysian traders voiced out that there is no sign of improvement in demand for both resins and end-products to date.
